


agonizing mistake

by TFALokiwriter



Series: Messing with time while Lost in Space (1998) [3]
Category: Lost in Space (1998), Lost in Space (TV 1965)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet Ending, Doomed Timelines, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Medical Conditions, Tragedy, well a canon divergence from my large ass fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 43
Words: 113,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: It took a single mistake to change plans, to make new ones, and agony was downright cruel to him the minutes after he made the decision to go after Martay and Rax. It was supposed to make sure the Robinsons weren't plagued by any problems. It was all supposed to be done for them and then it all ended bitterly. The agony was quite mistaken and it waspainful.
Relationships: John Robinson & Don West, John Robinson & Will Robinson, Penny Robinson & Will Robinson
Series: Messing with time while Lost in Space (1998) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937989





	1. Chapter 1

Will awoke early in the night then used the bathroom. He exited the bathroom then went to the stateroom that Robot called his quarters. Robot was no where to be seen to his alarm. He shuffled the door close then went up the deck. He found the two whispering up front in a very small discussion. He hid in the dark then watched the older man seated in a chair while Robot was set beside the door leading into the space pod that had been moved up a deck.

"And how does that make you feel?"

_AH-AAH-AH ACHU!_

"Upset. Bless you."

"Thank you." Again, Smith sneezed. "Never mind me," Smith said. "It is alright to feel these things, Gunter."

"I should have gone with him." Robot said. "Down there."

Smith stared incredulously toward Robot then sneezed once more.

"And abandoned the Jupiter 2 to fly off into space from orbit?"

"Her orbit was fixed,"

Smith held up a finger as he began to prepare to sneeze then threw his head forward into the clump of napkins then wiped the snot off.

"Orbits could decay at any time." Smith dropped the trash into the trash can then put another pile of napkins on his lab with a stuffy nose. "You were needed to be there. Providing some back up for him should things go wrong and you swing to the rescue as the cavalry as a big hero that you are."

Robot's helm lowered with a kachunk and he turned away from the man.

"Don't turn away from me, please." Instead of rash of anger and insult, it was a softened and patient from Smith. "Talk to me."

"I still feel like a _failure_."

Under the nightlight, Smith rose his brows in unison.

"How so?" Smith sneezed again. "Elaborate to the best of your ability."

"I wasn't there. I am always there by his side when it comes to these confrontation when it regards family," Robot said. "I am always _there_ to back him and Will up." He turned toward the window of the Jupiter 2 wheeling past the older man then his helm lowered. "I failed my duty."

"And this time you were not," Smith said, softly.

"Affirmative," Robot replied as Smith coughed.

Smith took a bite out of the sandwich, chewed, then placed it on to his lap and sneezed into his spare napkin.

"He felt the same way." Smith said. "He blamed me for his untimely demise. And I accept that blame." he looked aside, regretfully. "I was the _key_ leading him into that position."

"And you blame him for allowing yourself to live long enough to become a monster," Robot said.

"What I truly was. Not a monster." Smith shook his head. "A creature turned monster demented by insanity."

"Godhood." Robot said.

Smith lifted his attention up toward Robot.

"How do you feel on most days?" Smith asked.

"I feel like my circuits want to explode on some days yet my battery pack feels low and my advanced sensors do not feel optimized. These feelings bother me. When I go inside of the space pod bay, I want to destroy it all. Everything. Every little piece until all that is left is scorched Earth."

"This anger inside threatens to make me explode and vaporize every being of my shell. Sometimes, I am afraid that it will happen again. That I will be forced not to be there through one means or another when a member of the crew is murdered. And it makes me want to cry. Hard."

"It makes me shake some days with these feelings inside of me. Most days, I find a way to expel them on my off time."

Silence hung between them as the older man processed the reply.

"Did you cry enough in the dumps?" Smith asked.

A small little "No," came from Robot on the brink of tears.

"Here," Smith handed his handkerchief then Robot took it and Smith patted on the back of Robot's chassis. "Cry."

Robot began to sob, softly, as generated liquid began to appear on his grill.

"It is okay to cry, Gunter." Smith lifted his head up with a small hopeful smile and patted on his chassis.

"T-t-t-thank you," Robot said.

"You are very welcome, my dear boobed friend." Smith said then sneezed. "Feeling any better?"

"Starting to!" Robot wept as Will retreated into the corridor and back into his chamber. "Starting to!"

"Good, good!" Smith rubbed his hands in a self-congratulation gesture."Go on."

Smith was silent during the weeping, only interrupting to point out that Robot needed a new handkerchief, and sneezed every so often into his rolls of tissue. Smith finished eating his sandwich then folded his napkin into a thin long rod and dropped it into the trash can that he had moved in beside him. Smith looked up toward the astronavigator that was still in the ceiling waiting for time to tick on by. He took out his grandfather's watch and checked the time then snapped it close.

"Since I have cleaned up those cobwebs in your mind; how would you feel about giving me a back massage tomorrow morning?"

Robot bobbed his helm up as he shifted toward Smith leaning up.

"I would be _honored,_ Doctor Smith _._ " Robot said.

Smith grinned leaning back into the chair, proudly, admiring his work.

"My work here is really done with you." Smith said. "Go to bed."

Smith sat there silently watching the environmental robot head to the lower deck of the ship. Smith got up then came to the closed doorway of the ship then leaned against the frame with his arms folded; contemplating. He leaned off the frame then made his way down the ship to the lower decks. He opened the door on the residential deck then went out the doorway.

* * *

Will silently stalked after Smith under the night. Waiting for him to go on and on. Smith paused looking back. Will ducked out of Smith's line of vision before he could see him. Smith turned away then resumed the walk into the night silently tapping his fingers together. Will peeked out from behind the trees waiting until he were distant until he started walking after the older man.

A month on Tremfya and Will could pin down some familiar habits that were similar to his counterpart. All too familiar as if he were young instead of a older version when he was still older than Will. Smith's all too familiar habits showed up in the last three weeks prior to getting sick. The three weeks were a reprieve to Will from the issue regarding Smith's mutation.

Smith picked up a stick and sharpened it up on the long walk to the alien's spacecraft. He tossed the rock aside as he approached the craft. He came close and closer to the craft until he came to a stop. He raised his fist then knocked on the door: rapidly.

The door opened with a pool of crimson red light revealing Martay.

"Oh, hello-"

"I have little time to deal with you, my dear sir." Smith jabbed the stick under Martay's chin. "And I have little interest in killing you, _either_."

Smith applied more force against it with a trickle of blood coming down the skin.

"I have only this to say; anymore attempt to neutralize me as a threat to your plan will not just hurt you, but millions of people. I need to be around to spare a alien invasion from happening to Earth. I need to take down a monarchy. Then you can to do do what you like. That can wait up to a -" he tipped Martay's chin up then lifted a brow up. "A little week. Can it?"

Martay shook his head.

"I got the kid!" Rax came out of the forest with Will restrained.

Smith turned in the source of Rax's voice.

"William!" Smith's weapon was yanked out of his hands then thrown aside and a weapon was shoved into his back. "Spare me! Please!"

"If you want to live including the child then you will do _exactly_ as I say," Martay said as Smith turned toward back toward him.

"I am a innocent young man." Smith insisted. "I am sure we can work out . . a deal."

"Deal is," Martay slapped a large device around Smith's neck that weighed him down. "You stay silent and be on the down low."

Smith screamed as the wound in his throat came to life as his neck burned.

"Doctor Smith!" Will cried.

Smith fell silent, his knees buckling, then Martray shoved the man aside to the grass.

"He will be fine." Martay said. "Rax."

Rax smacked the weapon on the back of the boy's head knocking him out.

"That should do with the short term memory." Rax said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was meant to be five to ten to twenty chapters. . . But a certain someone wanted the pain to be seen in its entirety. All the layers of it. *glares toward classic Smith and Robot and the Robinsons*
> 
> Robinsons: *Laughs and walk away*
> 
> Smith: Your dear readers needed to see how he came to the position that he is in for the scenes YOU dropped and how he came to the emotional stand point of feeling that he belongs and that he is safe and that he is human. And for the Robinsons to arise as new versions of themselves for the future! Hardly to skip over! Hardly not to cover!
> 
> Robot: No comment.
> 
> Smith: No comment? No comment! It was all going well until you decided to go off and-
> 
> Robot: *Turns toward Smith* Fact. It was what they would have done, Doctor Smith.
> 
> And these two just fell into a gap of silence that is never ending.
> 
> Will: We were never going to let him stay for just one chapter and you know that is true.
> 
> I once wrote as a tag to this story on ao3: It is not how fast you get to the destination. But the journey that matters. That phrase turns out to be pretty important with his infection and getting it cured. It comes with pain and hardship to get to the point that he had been before the Proteus. Happy holidays for those reading!

"This time, there will not be another duetronium bank heist."

"Really? This time? I vividly recall the last time you proudly boasted of there not a bank heist since the creation of this bank. Shortly after that comment: it was being robbed."

"Space breeds of werewolves are very capable of slithering past the best defense."

"You mean space werecats?"

"Werewolves,"

"It has been a very long time since the first bank heist. No one has dared to perform the same act. Let alone facing their fate."

"We have no bad faith."

"My planet has a synthesizer of this fuel and it is very prized in negotiations with the other species in this galaxy. If I recommit to this bank then I want to be completely certain that we won't lose hundreds of deutronium," the glare was hard and weathered from the customer. "I understand the thousands of fuel was given to the Robinsons for the fair business agency set up as the bank robbers used as a vacation place. . . And we could repay the lost fuel for your customers but the next time it happens, it won't happen a second time."

"We have a guard," The bank teller gestured toward the guard at the front door. "And two others. It won't happen a second time."

The customer began to take out their knapsack and slip out the small cans of duetronium.

"That is fine."

The door to the bank slid open then the sounds of laser fire caused everyone to duck and cover. The security team turned away from the bank tellers then fired with their phaser banks toward the firing. The machines were dispatched as quickly as they were sent to neutralize the threat. The security team looked on to see a young man with three eyes and a dark brown goatee. He was tall towering over the rest of the people in the room standing at six foot.

"I am Doctor _ZACHARY_ Smith!" Smith emphasized, gesturing the two security detail down to the ground and they shielded their glass heads once on the ground. "This is a bank robbery, my dear strangers!" he waved the machine in the air. "If anyone moves, you're dead. So shall we cooperate?"

A truly evil smile spread from corner to corner then raised his thick dark brown eyebrows brows.

"Shall we? Hand over the cans of deutronium." He slipped forward the bag then motioned for the bag. "All of them into this knapsack. Please."

"You-y-y-y-yy-y-y-y-y-y-you will be sent to the prison planet Destructon for this!" The bank teller said.

"Send me there for all I care, my dear sir." Smith replied. "I do not give a flying space pig about prison!"

* * *

As all of this was happening, Martay was hitting his craft attempting to give way to the door opening. Unexpectedly, Martay fell back and loudly hacked frightening himself then got up to his feet. His eyes were glazed looking on with worry from side to side. He charged back at the door then crashed back down to the ground landing on his back. Will was unconscious on the neighboring seat when the loud thud awoke him.

"Urgh. . . my head. ."

He whirred on to his chest then looked up spotting the screen displaying the cans being slid into the table.

"No!" a familiar voice screamed across from Will.

He got up to his feet then began to search for weapons.

"Martay?" Will asked.

"No." Was the reply.

Martay gestured toward the computer screen.

"Doctor Smith!" Will said, looking toward the screen. "Why are you robbing a bank?"

Martay sighed, exasperated, throwing his head up in annoyance.

"My dear boy," Martay turned toward Will as he lowered his head. "I am _not_ robbing a bank. I am right here."

"Martay, where is Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

"I am Doctor Smith!" Martay pointed toward himself.

"Doctor Smith isn't coated in fur the last time I checked," Will said.

Martay sighed, exasperated, then drew in the shred of patience that he had left.

"Well, do I sound like the other Doctor Smith you know?" Smith asked.

"You sound like yourself, Martay," Will said. "Except. . ."

"Except for what?" Martay asked.

"For a hoarse voice." Will said. Martay turned away from the boy with a fit of coughing. "Did you have a shouting match with Doctor Smith about bringing my family to Alpha Centauri or was it about the fuel?"

Martay slid out drawers at a time then he paused in his tracks caught in the middle of a elaborate but metaphorical situational web.

"If I kill him, he still looks like me and I would be still thrown into prison!" Martay said with his back to the boy.

"Doctor Smith looks nothing like you, Martay." Will said.

Martay gripped along his bruised, burning, aching voice box very troubled.

"If I try to escape, I would be thrown into prison because they think I am a criminal!" He paced back and forth shaking his head quite irked then his lower set of arms retreated and Will took a double take. "Oh dear, this is not good." He shook his head quite trouble. "Unless. . ."

"Unless what? Does Doctor Smith have some fancy technology on him that makes him look like you while to the screen, he looks like himself?"

"You can't fool security cameras but you can fool the eyes of organic beings. I would have to wait awhile for them to come forward about the web of deceit." Martay looked down upon the boy. "I mean to say is, somehow, someway. . . this fool has changed his DNA and my own."

"He is not exactly a shapeshifter," Will said.

"I know I am not!" Martay said.

"But he is some level of telepath," Will said.

"I am a observer class level," Martay looked down upon the boy and squinted down at him. "It's hard to tell if you are pulling my leg or if you are being truthful."

Will smirked with a shrug.

"So is Doctor Smith." Will replied.

Then, Martay heavily coughed then looked on toward the screen.

"This is going to be the worst time waiting." Martay whined, irritated.

"Why do . . . Why do you have four arms?" Will asked.

Martay froze.

"This is more confusing then I thought it was. . . . and very elaborate." Martay coughed profusely into his fist. "Perhaps he is using a very advanced machine on me and that is why I look like him!" Martay clapped his hands with a grin. "A reasonable answer."

He sat down into the chair then started to laugh but ended up hacking.

"If they are using my DNA then it won't have to be long!" Martay grinned, hopeful. "Not long, indeed!"

Martay got up.

"I wonder if they have some snacks . . ." And coughed as he approached the kitchen portion of the ship then softly began to reply. "This isn't bronchitis. Isn't it?"

"Doesn't sound like it to me." Will said.

"William, let's eat? Shall we? Dine like kings that we are and deserve to be treated?" Martay asked, sliding open the food pantry. "Just this once?"

"That sounds like something he would say," Will said earning a sigh.

"I have said it." Martay said. He struggled to clear his throat as he took out the fruit from the food pantry. "Heavens if they gave me pneumonia then I am going to kill them by my bare hands!"

"On second thought, I don't know if I should accept food from strangers, Martay." Will said. "Not without Doctor Smith at least."

Martay groaned.

* * *

The door opened and Smith came in then watched the resting being on the table, unconscious, as the young boy bolted toward his side. Smith placed the large and very full knapsack into the cabinet and closed the door beside him then turned his attention upon the boy by his side.

"Doctor Smith, why did you have to steal fuel?" Will asked. "We got enough as it is!"

"You can have never enough." He directed the boy over to the staircase. "I will bring the ship back to Tremfya–"

"I know that your heart is in the right place, Doctor Smith." Will said. "It isn't right stealing other peoples fuel."

"If I hadn't, we would be spending generations on a lone planet!" Smith said. "A entire Earthling colony away from civilization not knowing their origins. And calling the Jupiter a heavenship."

"You mean that **YOU** would be **SPENDING** your **ENTIRE** life on a **PLANET** that is **NO CLOSER** to **ALPHA CENTAURI**!" Will shouted.

"Yes." Smith looked over toward Martay. "Looks like our host is asleep."

"After eating half of the food pantry," Will said. "If we apologized to him then we can make this all better. And returned the fuel that you stole."

"I shall see what I can give away, Will." Smith said. "They don't have enough fuel as it is to reach their promised planet."

"And that is?" Will asked.

"Riconasince," Smith said. "Oddball planet that it is. They live underground and visit to enjoy the natural scenery that is of the planet covered in a large body of water and continents covered in magnificent tall trees that shed the fierce lights of its dying sun. Whispers of its ultraviolet light. The trees being alive are a sure amazing and fascinating thing. Highly impressive and awe."

"And you will have to tell dad about it," Will said.

"I shall, I shall," Smith nodded. "I will set in the course to Tremfya. Why don't you eat, Will?"

"I had dinner hours ago," Will said. "Mom made that stew. Remember? Judy brought it in before dinner."

"I don't recall,"

"Are you okay, Doctor Smith?" Will asked. "You are a little off your beat."

"Being ill does that to me, my dear," Smith said. "Go upstairs and wait for me. I will be right up."

"Okay." Will said then went up the stairs.

Smith's brown eyes watched the boy go up then he looked down toward Martay who was semiconscious.

"Please. . . Whatever you intend; hurt me, kill me, take me, just don't harm him. I beg of you!"

"Why would I want to do that?" Smith asked. "He is my friend." He grinned back at Martay. "And whatever you say," His fingers grasped on the man's shoulder then leaned in and began to whisper. "They won't believe a single word from you once this is over."

"Doctor Smith-"

Smith looked up and abruptly sent the whimpering Martay down to the ground.

"They got the police coming!" Will announced.

Smith came up the stairs leaving Martay alone.

"No!"

Martay flopped over on to the chair then lifted himself up and the ship sent him flinging him from end to another. His secondary arms uncurled and he caught the reach of a pole and his primary arms wrapped around it as he screamed in horror. From above, Smith was standing still as Will sat down and buckled himself up in the nearest chair watching his friend navigate the ship through the sky. Martay was flung toward the staircase then he charged up the stairs coming to the bridge of the ship. He grasped on to the edge of the rail seeing the child look on helplessly watching his friend pilot.

"Doctor Smith!" Will cried. "Martay is here!"

Martay's eyes darted from the child to the counterpart contemplating his next moves then flung himself forward.

"Not anymore!" Smith declared.

Martay was flung to the other side of the ship then he grasped on to a level as the ship was shifting from side to side.

"Hah!" Smith laughed, looking over, then back toward the path ahead.

Martay climbed the equipment with care and precision then tackled the man down to the floor. His long sinister fingers dug into his uniform then smacked him against the floor. The ship flew sideways as Martay yanked Smith up to his feet then smacked him against the consoles with rage burning in his eyes. Martay flung him against the wall with strength that caused him to yelp. Behind this commotion, Will was watching with rapid attention.

Martay changed the course as Smith began to get up.

"I can still fix this!" Martay declared. "I can fix your mess!"

Smith got up to his feet and ran after him.

"I don't want you to!" Smith shouted.

With a whimper, Martay was shoved aside and the back of his head hit the edge of table. He faced the young boy then tried to lift himself up. He coughed feeling his chest ache and his head ached. His vision blurred overhearing the sound of Smith's laughter then his figure slumped and snored away. Will watched as several planets were passed by in the journey back to the planet. Tremfya came into view then Will unbuckled and stormed down the stairs headed for the bottom deck.

Smith stood at the center as the scenery changed to that of being planet side. Smith closed his eyes then slid open a door. Rax slid out the machine from the back then aimed it at the two of them. In a moment, Smith was replaced by Martay and Martay was replaced by Smith in different places around the room. Then a circular machine showed the transfer of memories between them. With that done, Martay fell. Rax left the room. And Smith got up with a notable cough. He looked out the window spotting the scenery appearing to be unsettled at first, confused, then it hit him.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! What have I done?"

"Doctor Smith, come on!"

Smith looked from Martay to the lower decks then stormed down the steps.

"I am-" he had a loud cough. "coming!"

Smith went to the cabinet then opened cabinet and took out the knapsack.

"Doctor Smith, are you coming?"

"I will be, my dear boy." Smith said. "In a few moments." he clung the package into his chest. "Right behind you."

"Okay."

Will went out then Smith grimaced, regretful, had a lengthy cough, before following him out.


	3. Chapter 3

"He didn't do it!" Robot insisted that morning.

"Robot, you heard the evidence!" Don reminded. "He did."

"Negative," Robot said. "You were only shown what was manufactured specifically for Will and for the cameras."

"They tested all the memories of the eyewitnesses and we have tested Smith's memory with the device," John said.

"Those were real memories." Don picked up the can of deutronium from the galley table and shook it. " _And_ he brought along the evidence to his crime."

"The world's greatest tragedy," Robot said. "I believe him. But there is nothing to back it up."

"Why do you think that he didn't do it?" John asked.

"I admit, he is capable of it." Robot said. "But he wouldn't have just done that the same night after having a talking session with me." Robot's helm twirled. "It was very personal and revealing."

"He has done bad things right after the good," Penny said. "He is capable of anything."

"And he did speak with Martay," Maureen reminded.

"I watched it happen and I stayed out of it _,"_ Robot said. "Before I watch it happen a second time, I want to be sure you **want** to go down this road a second time with Doctor Smith."

"We have to." John said.

"I will not be there this time to watch it happen." Robot said. "I won't be there to mitigate the aftermath and _I_ won't be there to fix it."

"Because you had to," John said.

"You lost his trust, Professor." Robot said. "He didn't come back after that event."

"We regained it." John said.

"He would have _never_ come back had Will and I discovered. . ." Robot let the comment hang.

"We all regret how _that_ turned out," John said. "This is different."

"If we do that, we stand of losing his cooperation and his trust with us; **FOREVER.** " Robot emphasized. "And forever is _not_ a long time for him! When you tell him what you think that he did intentionally. . . History _will_ repeat itself."

"History isn't running its course, Robot," John said. "He did it. We have evidence. Solid evidence. Tangible evidence."

"He could not have done it," Robot bobbed his helmet up. "He is still getting better."

"Robot, Doctor Smith is a entirely different breed of human," Judy said. "He may be weathering out the infection than walk and talk to without us even knowing he is still sick."

"He is battling bronchitis," Robot said. "He could not have been able to do that."

"He has been quite lucid in and out of it," Penny said.

"Lucid enough to ask me what we were having for breakfast this morning," Will said

"Were you around him all of yesterday, Robot?" Judy asked.

"I was not," Robot replied.

"Robot, stand aside." John said.

Robot bobbed his helm, obeyed, then wheeled away.

"This is awful," Maureen shook her head as Robot paused beside the doorway to the Jupiter 2. His helm twirled as though shaking his head. "I thought he was done with the stealing and his greed."

"I thought so too with his lack of doing so," John said.

"We asked too much of him," Maureen said.

"We expected too much of him, Maureen." John said. "We never asked anything from him. Only that he allowed our help."

Robot pressed a button then the door opened and he went down the steps. He stared at the Robinsons regarding them for a long moment as he thought to himself, _there is a chance, that I, too, won't return from this adventure._ His helm and upper half twirled away toward the doorway leading out of the Jupiter 2 as the cool air entered the ship _.  
_

"You can only restrain thievery for so long for a man like him." Don chimed in. "For a moment there. . ." Robot wheeled out of the ship and the door closed behind him. "I thought he was good."

"We all did." John said. "Maureen, how about we have a picnic? I hate to be around when they come in."

"I wouldn't mind," Maureen said. "It would make it feel a lot better. Girls, help me get the picnic packing done."

The girls departed from the center of the bridge as Will shook his head.

"This doesn't feel like him," Will said. "Something doesn't feel right." he shook his head. "Where did Robot go?"

"Outside," John said. "Give him some space."

"I will. . ." Will said.

"Will, why don't you help us get the Chariot unfolded?" Don asked.

"That would be a great help," John agreed.

"Sure, I can do that." Will nodded.

* * *

Robot wheeled for hours at a time searching for the presence of the two men feeling helpless as his world was falling apart around him. He detected the Warden of the Destructon Prison Planet arriving. He even detected the Robinsons had left earlier before the arrival. Robot came to a pause and screamed loudly hunched over until his audio synthesizers screamed. With that done, he was all but certain that his world had already ended. A long time ago.

It was the world of the Robinsons that was to fall apart. A world that wasn't going to be as kind. Nor was it going to be as hopeful, optimistic, or happy for that matter. And Smith was going to have it worse. Robot couldn't be exactly sure what was going to happen but he was sure of the man sharing the same grief that he, himself, went through for his counterpart. It felt like he had regained a brother but younger yet still as older than he was.

And the world that orbited the Jupiter 2 was ready to collapse.

It wasn't going to be exactly going to run smoothly on the Robinsons.

None of it was going to be kind for the Robinsons foreseeable future.

It was to be agonizing and _cruel_.

* * *

"Booby, what is going on?" Smith asked with a hoarse voice once dragged out of the Jupiter 2 by his arms then plopped down to his knees alongside the hydroponic garden. "Who-" he hacked into his hand. "in the-" Smith coughed a second time. "Heavens are these people?"

Smith looked from side to side quite frightened as he made himself look small and short with the cuffs between his wrists.

"Robot, explain to the suspect," The warden said.

"You are having a nightmare." Robot said. "The worst one of all."

"Oh, thank heavens!" Smith relaxed. "it's just a nightmare."

"This is real." Robot insisted.

"Nightmares always say that." Smith persisted. "And dreams come to say, ' _You do realize, my dear, you are dreaming_.' Nightmares don't come out and say that beside you."

"You've been framed." Robot said, ominously.

"Ah, a nightmare where I have been framed? That is a new kind of nightmare-" Smith hacked. "For me!"

"You will be out, soon." Robot assured. Smith sneezed then Robot held out a large collection of napkins in a box. "Bless you, Doctor Smith."

"Where is the rest of the deutronioum, Doctor Smith?"

"I don't know, my dear sir. I just entered into this nightmare, myself-" Smith paused. "Oh riiight." he started to laugh only to end up coughing into his hand with difficulty clearing his throat. The coughing made his entire figure shake until he could breath again. "I threw them into the local river."

"Search the rivers!"

"It's coming to me." Smith said. "This is a very strange nightmare. Gunter, this is frightening. Can you end the nightmare for me?"

"I cannot. Doctor Smith."

"Why can't you?"

"I cannot allow you to die-"

"In my sleep. Course." Smith lifted the shackles up then rubbed his forehead. "My dear old friend." He looked toward Robot. "Where is Will?"

"Going on a picnic." Robot replied.

Smith began to laugh that turned into difficult hacking.

"At least this little nightmare isn't all that bad." Smith said with a shake of his head.

Robot was silent for a complete moment.

"It will only get worse before it gets better," Robot said. "I am sorry, Doctor Smith. For everything that comes next."

"No need to apologize, my dear old friend." Smith said. "This is a dream. Nothing more. It's the mind's work."

Smith coughed into his fists with difficulty.

"Get up, 273." The officers lifted Smith up to his feet.

"May I ask what the next sequence is?" Smith asked.

"You are going to Destructon! And you will live the full maximum for stealing thousands of fuel!"

Smith yelped as he was dragged over to the space cycle then shoved down and had a fit of coughing. Smith slouched forward closing his eyes. He took one last look at Robot at the Jupiter 2 then began to close his eyes and snored away. Then Robot watched as the vehicle carrying his friend vanish in a pit of smoke. Robot checked his defense systems detecting that he had enough to make a visit to the responsible parties.


	4. Chapter 4

"He didn't do it!" Robot insisted that morning.

"Robot, you heard the evidence!" Don reminded. "He did."

"Negative," Robot said. "You were only shown what was manufactured specifically for Will and for the cameras."

"They tested all the memories of the eyewitnesses and we have tested Smith's memory with the device," John said.

"Those were real memories." Don picked up the can of deutronium from the galley table and shook it. " _And_ he brought along the evidence to his crime."

"The world's greatest tragedy," Robot said. "I believe him. But there is nothing to back it up."

"Why do you think that he didn't do it?" John asked.

"I admit, he is capable of it." Robot said. "But he wouldn't have just done that the same night after having a talking session with me." Robot's helm twirled. "It was very personal and revealing."

"He has done bad things right after the good," Penny said. "He is capable of anything."

"And he did speak with Martay," Maureen reminded.

"I watched it happen and I stayed out of it _,"_ Robot said. "Before I watch it happen a second time, I want to be sure you **want** to go down this road a second time with Doctor Smith."

"We have to." John said.

"I will not be there this time to watch it happen." Robot said. "I won't be there to mitigate the aftermath and _I_ won't be there to fix it."

"Because you had to," John said.

"You lost his trust, Professor." Robot said. "He didn't come back after that event."

"We regained it." John said.

"He would have _never_ come back had Will and I discovered. . ." Robot let the comment hang.

"We all regret how _that_ turned out," John said. "This is different."

"If we do that, we stand of losing his cooperation and his trust with us; **FOREVER.** " Robot emphasized. "And forever is _not_ a long time for him! When you tell him what you think that he did intentionally. . . History _will_ repeat itself."

"History isn't running its course, Robot," John said. "He did it. We have evidence. Solid evidence. Tangible evidence."

"He could not have done it," Robot bobbed his helmet up. "He is still getting better."

"Robot, Doctor Smith is a entirely different breed of human," Judy said. "He may be weathering out the infection than walk and talk to without us even knowing he is still sick."

"He is battling bronchitis," Robot said. "He could not have been able to do that."

"He has been quite lucid in and out of it," Penny said.

"Lucid enough to ask me what we were having for breakfast this morning," Will said

"Were you around him all of yesterday, Robot?" Judy asked.

"I was not," Robot replied.

"Robot, stand aside." John said.

Robot bobbed his helm, obeyed, then wheeled away.

"This is awful," Maureen shook her head as Robot paused beside the doorway to the Jupiter 2. His helm twirled as though shaking his head. "I thought he was done with the stealing and his greed."

"I thought so too with his lack of doing so," John said.

"We asked too much of him," Maureen said.

"We expected too much of him, Maureen." John said. "We never asked anything from him. Only that he allowed our help."

Robot pressed a button then the door opened and he went down the steps. He stared at the Robinsons regarding them for a long moment as he thought to himself, _there is a chance, that I, too, won't return from this adventure._ His helm and upper half twirled away toward the doorway leading out of the Jupiter 2 as the cool air entered the ship _.  
_

"You can only restrain thievery for so long for a man like him." Don chimed in. "For a moment there. . ." Robot wheeled out of the ship and the door closed behind him. "I thought he was good."

"We all did." John said. "Maureen, how about we have a picnic? I hate to be around when they come in."

"I wouldn't mind," Maureen said. "It would make it feel a lot better. Girls, help me get the picnic packing done."

The girls departed from the center of the bridge as Will shook his head.

"This doesn't feel like him," Will said. "Something doesn't feel right." he shook his head. "Where did Robot go?"

"Outside," John said. "Give him some space."

"I will. . ." Will said.

"Will, why don't you help us get the Chariot unfolded?" Don asked.

"That would be a great help," John agreed.

"Sure, I can do that." Will nodded.

* * *

Robot wheeled for hours at a time searching for the presence of the two men feeling helpless as his world was falling apart around him. He detected the Warden of the Destructon Prison Planet arriving. He even detected the Robinsons had left earlier before the arrival. Robot came to a pause and screamed loudly hunched over until his audio synthesizers screamed. With that done, he was all but certain that his world had already ended. A long time ago.

It was the world of the Robinsons that was to fall apart. A world that wasn't going to be as kind. Nor was it going to be as hopeful, optimistic, or happy for that matter. And Smith was going to have it worse. Robot couldn't be exactly sure what was going to happen but he was sure of the man sharing the same grief that he, himself, went through for his counterpart. It felt like he had regained a brother but younger yet still as older than he was.

And the world that orbited the Jupiter 2 was ready to collapse.

It wasn't going to be exactly going to run smoothly on the Robinsons.

None of it was going to be kind for the Robinsons foreseeable future.

It was to be agonizing and _cruel_.

* * *

"Booby, what is going on?" Smith asked with a hoarse voice once dragged out of the Jupiter 2 by his arms then plopped down to his knees alongside the hydroponic garden. "Who-" he hacked into his hand. "in the-" Smith coughed a second time. "Heavens are these people?"

Smith looked from side to side quite frightened as he made himself look small and short with the cuffs between his wrists.

"Robot, explain to the suspect," The warden said.

"You are having a nightmare." Robot said. "The worst one of all."

"Oh, thank heavens!" Smith relaxed. "it's just a nightmare."

"This is real." Robot insisted.

"Nightmares always say that." Smith persisted. "And dreams come to say, ' _You do realize, my dear, you are dreaming_.' Nightmares don't come out and say that beside you."

"You've been framed." Robot said, ominously.

"Ah, a nightmare where I have been framed? That is a new kind of nightmare-" Smith hacked. "For me!"

"You will be out, soon." Robot assured. Smith sneezed then Robot held out a large collection of napkins in a box. "Bless you, Doctor Smith."

"Where is the rest of the deutronioum, Doctor Smith?"

"I don't know, my dear sir. I just entered into this nightmare, myself-" Smith paused. "Oh riiight." he started to laugh only to end up coughing into his hand with difficulty clearing his throat. The coughing made his entire figure shake until he could breath again. "I threw them into the local river."

"Search the rivers!"

"It's coming to me." Smith said. "This is a very strange nightmare. Gunter, this is frightening. Can you end the nightmare for me?"

"I cannot. Doctor Smith."

"Why can't you?"

"I cannot allow you to die-"

"In my sleep. Course." Smith lifted the shackles up then rubbed his forehead. "My dear old friend." He looked toward Robot. "Where is Will?"

"Going on a picnic." Robot replied.

Smith began to laugh that turned into difficult hacking.

"At least this little nightmare isn't all that bad." Smith said with a shake of his head.

Robot was silent for a complete moment.

"It will only get worse before it gets better," Robot said. "I am sorry, Doctor Smith. For everything that comes next."

"No need to apologize, my dear old friend." Smith said. "This is a dream. Nothing more. It's the mind's work."

Smith coughed into his fists with difficulty.

"Get up, 273." The officers lifted Smith up to his feet.

"May I ask what the next sequence is?" Smith asked.

"You are going to Destructon! And you will live the full maximum for stealing thousands of fuel!"

Smith yelped as he was dragged over to the space cycle then shoved down and had a fit of coughing. Smith slouched forward closing his eyes. He took one last look at Robot at the Jupiter 2 then began to close his eyes and snored away. Then Robot watched as the vehicle carrying his friend vanish in a pit of smoke. Robot checked his defense systems detecting that he had enough to make a visit to the responsible parties.


	5. A lenghty sequence on Destructon

"If we are going to renovate the Jupiter 2 to become a multi generation ship, Tremfya is the only planet, as far, that we can do it on. Best planet. Asides to being prone to criminals, I am sure that we can handle these people with the forcefield." John said. "It will take months just to do this expansion."

"A complete overhaul of the Jupiter 2," Maureen said. "It is a price worth paying for our grandchildren."

"The only question is," John said. "If you want to have children."

"Things have gotten better," Don said.

"And we could as well start aging at any time," Judy said.

"We have been thinking about it," Don said.

"Strange people, unusual criminals who have special interest in sculpting and making art out of the trees and plans, and rabbirds is any place to rest a while before a long trip," Judy said. "And start to have a few kids."

"Rabbirds?" John asked. "What do you mean by rabbirds?"

"Rabbits with the lower halves of a bird," Judy said.

"And these were the giant rabbit breeds," Don said.

"Doctor Smith, Will, Don, and I were setting up the weather station when. . ." she started to laugh. "When they gave Doctor Smith a fright and sent him panicking."

"I remember that, it took us hours to find him AND Will," Don said. "And right into the private land of a rabbird hunter."

"You were camping," Judy said.

"I remember,"John said. "And Penny wanted to study them. Is that right?"

"Yes." Don nodded. "It's going to be quiet without him around."

"It won't be for long," Judy squeezed his hand. "Not for long."

* * *

Smith acted in a stupor. That of autopilot, half lucid, half not quite lucid, between his fits hacking and sneezing. He downed himself beside his rock, timing himself to do his quota, much to the chagrin of his inmates. Inmates who were figments of his nightmare. A nightmare that meant it wasn't going to last and it was going to feel incredibly strange, weird, and surreal and bizarre for as long as it went on.

And yet, they were real as he was and he didn't even know it. They acted real to him and threatened him so he took their word for it. He did not wish for the nightmare to become worse. And it was hard to tell how long the nightmare had been going during his black outs. Each black out indicated that a length of time had passed since the other.

Each segment was strange and unusual. And it featured as a way off being one that stood out as odd enough to remind him. _You're in a hopeful place._ Instead of violence between prisoners and shivs, there were moments of cooperation and a feeling of family around the crew of inmates that he was shackled with.

A allotment of time passed this way with Smith's synchronized schedule. In one segment, they were rewarded with a large ice cube. The ice cube gave pause for the aliens staring it down. Their eyes widened while Smith remained leaning his back against the rock using his arms as his support and a loud distinctive snore. The inmates congregated along the large cube and one of them yanked Smith off his resting spot then stuck him along the finer long edges of the cube as he yelped.

"I said, I don't need to be around ice cubes to be sleep!"

"Earth man, it's hot and you can die. And you cannot regenerate."

"Sure sure, for unmodified humans, that is possible." Smith shook his hand. "Unlike the Robinsons and the major, my body was redesigned to survive anything imaginable that the environment could throw at me."

He fell into a coughing fit then sat down on a rock.

"Geeze, you got it bad."

"And it mattered greatly surviving the great war." Smith resumed, wiping his fist along his pant leg, then sighed. "Intended to be for adapting to the great reaction of the planet from killing it. Every day. And doing nothing to help it! Only except for making humans more capable of living through the hardship!"

One of the inmates eyes widened taken back, appalled, horrified, and stunned.

"This Earth man is insane!"

"I take great insu-" Smith hacked, once, twice, and thrice until his throat was cleared and he had turned away from the ice cube. "In that!"

"Your body can naturally cool you down?"

"Yes." Smith nodded.

"You need water to perform that task."

". . . Well, there is a little matter on that." Smith said then held up his index finger.

Smith coughed and coughed and coughed as the other inmates waited then spat mucus out to the ground.

"We took inspiration from camels." Smith said. "Hide pockets of water in our bodies that is regulated in our body and is dropped for certain times such as rest and cooling down."

He coughed for a moment then frowned looking back at a memory.

"I wonder if that is why I was so cold during the space venom? . . ." Smith looked back. "Constant water over the blazing heat the venom was putting on my body."

Another inmate stared at him.

"Are you going to get better any time soon?"

Smith nodded, certain.

"When I wake up from this nightmare, I shall be!"

"Everyone. Ignore the mad man and sleep."

It was too cold remaining against the rock as the cold was already in his bones, skin, and veins. And tired. He came over to a rock then flopped on to his side and quietly fell into the black watching the light show of the planet become engulfed vanishing by each star that vanished before his eyes falling deep and deeper into the abyss of rest.

* * *

"I like to see how he is doing." Will said, one day.

After five months working and planning with his family on the expansion of the Jupiter 2 and how to best move the placement of the rooms. Five months without Doctor Smith and Robot, only dealing with the visitors that approached their camp, three months were spent celebrating the news that Judy was expecting. Five months spent moving on from the fact that _a_ Doctor Smith had entered their lives then after becoming familiar to them and close to them, he performed a major crime that they couldn't help him with as he confessed to it.

"Don?" John asked.

"I will go with him." Don said. "He will be fine."

"Don't tell Smith about Robot being gone." John warned. "Not right this moment."

"I won't." Don nodded.

"Neither will I." Will said.

"I can tell him about the good news about the expansion," Don said. "Can I?"

"That you can." John nodded. "I am sure he will be uplifted regarding Judy's pregnancy."

"Looks like we get to use our visitors pass," Maureen said with a bittersweet smile. "After all."

* * *

The booth took them to Destructon. It was cool and comfortable. Don looked ahead of Will anticipating to see Robot ahead of them. But, he wasn't. And he hadn't been there for some time. The door opened and the cold air was replaced by the familiar heatwave. Don was in a white shirt like Will was and in shorts. They stepped out into the blazing heat then took a sip from their canteens. They searched through the quadrant searching for the familiar older man and it didn't last long.

They heard a loud coughing that drew their attention. The duo arrived to the small crater of rock that had a few inmates stationed around it while a lone tall but familiar man was stationed in the center of it leaning against the pick axe having a unwell sigh and quite unkempt with long curly hair that hadn't been trimmed. His beard had grown longer as well and his skin was well tanned but visibly pale.

"Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

". . . Is that you?" Don added.

"It is I, the unhealthy Pumpkin Man, the Dracula, the Sirius Black to your Wizardly devices,-" Smith had a weak cough before adding in a deflated version of himself but it was a distant demeanor and his hoarse voice small. "You look better than I do."

Don restrained Will from running after Smith with one hand on his shouler.

"We have been busy." Don said.

"Flying throughout the galaxy." Smith said. "I am aware."

"No, we have been working on expanding the Jupiter 2," Don said over Smith's coughing into his handkerchief.

"Expecting?" Smith looked up.

"A little." Don said.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Savor it. Happiness can only last so long in nightmares." He shrugged then Don frowned at the comment and slipped away his handkerchief. "I am sure I will awaken from this nightmare." he swung the pick axe into the ground chipping off a block. "Eventually."

Smith yanked the pick axe out and it flew out.

"Ow!"

The pick axe flew over Don's head landing into the ground.

"Stop throwing your pick axe at me, 273!"

"I must be more sick then I care to realize." Smith shuddered.

"Smith, this isn't a nightmare!" Don said, grabbing Smith by the shoulders. "This is real. All of it is **real**!"

"Get your hands off me, Major." Smith hissed, swiping the man's hand off his shoulders.

"Smith-"

"This is my nightmare and I can more than be capable of making you have a very horrible day. I have a high fever." He coughed into his hand then leaned up. "And if I were you," he pressed his hand against the rocky boulder beside him. "I wouldn't want to catch whatever disease I have in this sequence."

"Don't get any bright ideas," Don said.

"Oh, how can I?" Smith asked, mockingly as Will started to smirk tearfully.

"There is a fence and a android guard that you can _easily_ knock down with a hammer," Don pointed out.

"Bright ideas are all over the place!" Smith threw his hands in the air gesturing toward the sky. "I can just do any of them and everything will be fine. Just last sequence, I peed on the metal droid and nothing terrible happened."

Don looked in the direction that the older man pointed in and spotted a rusted droid with the quadrant sign then turned his attention toward the man quite incredulous.

"I don't think you are thinking straight with this in mind, Smith." Don said. "This is life and death serious. You can't stand this existence for two more months."

Smith shook his head.

"Shame that this version of the human body is designed to tolerate the heated temperature as if it _is_ summer cool weather. I can only imagine how the overbearing heat must be for you." He waved him off. "Go on."

Smith turned away then sneezed into his sleeve.

"No wonder you're not sweating." Don said. "This is cool weather to you. Why do you think this is a nightmare?"

"The first person I saw was Rob-" Smith coughed into his hands then fell down his knees with a cough. "And he told me it was a nightmare."

"You were supposed to have gotten _better_ , Doctor Smith!" Will said in alarm.

"You were a lot better in the memory screen," Don said. "And you weren't coughing then."

Smith glared toward Don.

"I wasn't remotely better when I was taken out of bed," Smith said. "I was still sick."

Don's face fell at the sincere tone.

"I am likely contagious." he coughed between syllable hunched over and struggled to breathe. "Don't catch pneumonia because of me." he stepped back from the duo. "Keep your distance."

"No way." Will shook his head approaching the man. "I am sorry. I was wrong."

"About what?" Smith asked. "My dear boy, you have nothing to apologize for."

"I should have been there at the time of your arrest," Will said. "But, I wasn't. Normally, I am there for you. And it really hurts." Smith reached a hand out but upon looking at his mucus covered hand, he withdrew it it then wiped it off his pant leg then put his cleaned hand on the child's shoulder. "And I have been out of it for awhile."

"William. . ." Smith said. "It would have been worse on you. I have been through much _worse_. I have been through more literal nightmares."

Smith glanced off toward the major.

"Have you been taking medication?" Don asked.

Smith used the rock as his support then glared toward the major and slid away from the boy.

"This. . . is . . . a **NIGHTMARE**!" Smith emphasized. "You don't get medicine in nightmares!"

He coughed, hard, into his closed fist then looked up toward the major with visibly difficulty breathing.

"You get them when you are _wiiiiideeee aawaaaaakkee!_ "

He pointed toward the elevator with strain in his voice being dramatic.

"Please, go. William. Major." Smith whined. "Before you become part of this nightmare with what I have. And I don't want that." his hoarse voice became softer. "You already have so little medicine as it is."

Smith turned ahead then spat to the ground in the mist of coughing.

"You really weren't there." Don said.

"Yes, I was." Smith replied with a hoarse voice then looked toward Don.

"You weren't, and we didn't consider, we didn't ask if you were feeling better, because no one in their right mind, not even you, would rob a bank when they were sick," Don said. "Those memories are not real. And what is wrong with your voice? You sound, really, _really_ hoarse."

"Old wound came back to life because of this illness." Smith said. "Nothing more. Go."

"Doctor Smith," Will came to his side then put a hand on the side of his arm. "Look at my mind and tell me it is a nightmare. You have to do it. Listen to my mind."

Smith's attention shifted from Don to Will.

"You're not leaving until I do that." Smith said.

"Yep." Don said.

"Alright. I shall do it." Smith lowered his shields then staggered back. "No. No. no. no." he staggered back. "Leave."

He turned away from them.

"You admitted to doing it, Smith!" Don said. "We couldn't-"

"I said, LEAVE. And don't bother showing your faces until you can come back with proof that I didn't. do. it." He heard silence as he stared them down. "I know that much."

Don walked away walking on toward the waiting booth.

"Doctor Smith-"

"I said." Smith said, sharply, for the third time. "Leave."

"Are you angry at me?" Will asked.

"I am only angry because that memory I see in which you are chuckling at." Smith said. "It tells me I have been framed."

"Framed?" Will asked. "But you were doing it! I saw you with my own eyes! And the screen showed you doing it! That is hard to do."

Smith took off his jacket then his undershirt as he turned toward him then uncurled his arms.

"I. . . have. . . _four_ . . . . arms." he stretched his arms out revealing the double arms. "Martay did not before he took my DNA."

He put a hand on Will's shoulder then lightly patted on it.

"Go home. It's not your fault." Smith said. "Someday, they will come. And someday, I will be a free man. I can wait a few centuries. I can wait that long." he slid his fingers off the boy's shoulder then slid his lower arms back on. "It's what gentlemen do."

He walked away putting on his uniform.

"Wait, _patiently_."

Smith walked away then had a series of hacking leaving Will behind picking up the pick axe.

"I can't, Doctor Smith."

Smith paused, watching the boy run off momentary back to the major, then lowered his gaze shifting it toward the rock and picked up his pick axe.

And this time, he lashed his rage at the rock.

* * *

"John," Don approached the professor upon returning.

"What is the matter?" John asked. He noticed something was off. Something had enraged his friend.

"Smith was _framed_." Don said. "Really good."

"Do you have proof?" John inquired.

"He was sick during the act." Don said.

"That isn't exactly proof."

"Will." Don looked down toward the boy. "Tell him what you told me."

"Martay had four arms. That wasn't Doctor Smith robbing the bank. I didn't think much about why he wasn't coughing then! I thought he had gotten better . . . " Will admitted. "It was Martay."

"What would Martay want with him?" John asked,

"Fuel to get anywhere he wants," Don said. "And a patsy."

"He used a memory transplant device between them and that is why those memories are so genuine!" Will asked. "That is why he believed they were real."

"If Martay changed his DNA to that of Smith's," Don said. "There is going to be some left over effects of that mutation on him, _too_."

"The Galactic Justice Tribunal got the wrong man is what you are saying?" John asked with a raise of his brows.

"Uh huh," Don said. "If we can look at their hands, that could be proof enough. Last I checked; Martay had paws."

"And Smith had claws." John said.

"That is about right," Don said. "And it is going to be a big problem for Martay just to be able to blend in."

"We don't know where they are." John said.

"Uh. I do." Will said.

"Where did they go, son?" John asked.

"Riconasince." Will said. "We don't have the star charts for that."

"But we can ask some of the planet bound criminals for some," John said.

"I like to give the Jupiter 2 a whir," Don turned toward the largened and widened craft. "Been a long time since we have gone out there with her."

John looked toward the Major then began to grin.

"We might find them before we have a grandchild." John said.

"That would be icing on the cake!" Don said.

"And Doctor Smith would get to a honorary god uncle," Judy said drawing the men's attention. "Am I hearing you two men right?" She came down the stairs with one hand on her stomach. "That he didn't do it?"

"The chances are looking high, Judy." Don greeted her and Maureen came down. "Really high."

* * *

Judy and Penny exited the booth the next day to the quadrant that Smith was assigned to. Behind them, the officer was peering into a small box that had been given to him. The prison officer grinned then waved back at the duo of the Robinsons. The girls didn't have to search long as he was easy to spot taking a nap with his back against the rock snoring away.

"Be careful." A inmate with a lame shoulder approached the women. "We just got him to finally take a nap a hour ago."

"Finally?" Penny asked.

"He has been better since recent months and we are concerned about that." the inmate admitted. "Normally, when someone has been ill that long on this planet. . ."

"What does it mean?" Judy asked.

"That means they are on the last sprint." the inmate said. "He will wake up on his own."

"Isn't it in your best interest for him to be awake and working?" Penny asked.

"He filled his quota three hours ago. If we had allowed him to continue working, we would have to watch a entire ice cube melt as the morning went." the inmate explained then glanced back toward the man. "He should start waking up in a few moments. His naps don't last that long here."

"Anything else that we should know?" Judy asked.

The inmate stared at her for a moment before replying.

"His voice is hoarse." The inmate wandered away from the women.

The women looked toward the man who was distant to them but several feet away at the heart of the rocky like crater. Smith began to awake as he heard the sound of their footsteps. He leaned up off the rock that made a natural flat berth for him then he slid up and smiled, weakly, back at them. Penny helped him up to his feet with her outstretched smaller hand.

"Doctor Smith, you look better than how Don described you."

"I puked out the bacteria that was giving me such the trouble. Nasty ordeal. Excellent idea to get rid of the unridable with medicine not around for it." Smith scanned her then looked up from the stomach to Judy and a memory flashed before his eyes. "You are heavily pregnant, my dear."

"She is due any day!" Penny said. "And we brought angel cake."

"How pleasant," Smith started to reach his hand out but stopped and retracted it closing his hand. He looked up toward Judy. "May I?"

"You may." Judy said.

Smith reached his hand out then touched her stomach and felt a kick.

"How wonderful!" Smith said. "A little angry bull like his father."

"Doctor Smith, would you like to be the god uncle?" Judy asked.

Smith looked up with a smile toward Judy.

"No," Smith said. "That title doesn't belong to me." Judy started to frown at his soft and quiet but quite hoarse tone. "What title _does_ belongs to me is babysitter devil."

Penny and Judy laughed at once over his comment.

"We brought angel cake." Penny said.

"Did you bring enough for everyone?" Smith asked. "Even the guards?"

"We gave them their own," Penny said.

"Did someone say angel cake?" a inmate from across piped up.

"Angel cake!" Came another.

"We brought plenty to go around!" Judy announced.

"And plates?" asked another inmate.

"And plates!" Penny said.

"What is the meaning of this angel cake?" Smith asked.

"We know where to find Martay and Rax." Penny said. "We will be going after them tomorrow."

The thought of freedom gave Smith some pause as he sat down on the rock. His voice was hoarse, less healthy, less young, still recovering from the ailment that had plagued him for months if not longer. And he wasn't quite sure how long that he had been there, either. It was different from the holding facility that he was initially taken to before his first and second space court hearing.

A thought occurred to him as Judy set the box with the angel cake on the rock and slid it open. He clasped his hands together between his knees looking down toward his hands. Then, Smith picked up a pebble and tossed it into the distance and watched it bounce off the sand until it fell flat. He looked on toward the women who were troubled.

"If you don't bring them back alive, my dears. It is okay." Smith said as his comment drew their alarms. "I like you to tell the major that."

"It won't be fine for you," Penny said, shaking her head. "You would still be stuck here for life."

"You think I am surrounded by enemies?" Smith asked. Then he laughed with some difficulty and a aching chest. "I am surrounded by _friends._ And they have saved my life more times then I can count. They make this experience a lot more tolerable then I would have expected."

"You're still insane and you are not changing my mind!" a inmate cried behind him shaking his fist.

"However odd they are." Smith added with a chuckle.

"You have fitted right in," Judy said, amused.

"Not as I did with your lovely family, my dear Judy." Smith said. "And I have greatly missed your family," Smith continued. "Truly. Even Robot."

"We miss you, too." Penny said.

He looked toward the crowd of inmates behind him as the women's faces behind him became marked by sorrow for a moment in reflection then returned their attention on to him. Smith turned his attention back toward the women.

"Now, let's start having this party under way and enjoy the others company." He had a small smile slipping out a plate from the knapsack. "Shall we?"

And the women smiled at the proposal. The angel cake was slid onto plates and the crew paused in their activity sitting on the walk eating away the food. Smith laughed and laughed between bites regarding the tales that the women had to share about the expansion of the Jupiter 2 and the adventures they had without him. He flicked off pieces of angel cake off his long beard as his figure shook with laughter ringing through his very being.

"And the trip is quite long," Penny said. "So we will stop occasionally and visit you."

"How kind of you, my dear child." Smith said, touched. 

"If we can't," Judy said. "You will be in our thoughts."


	6. End of Destructon's sequence

Eight months came and went for Rax and Martay. Martay suffered as every day waned on. His muscle mass decreased from lack of use, his figure began to shrink before his eyes, and his legs were growing thicker before his eyes. And the surprise addition of there being a third eye shortly after their departure home made things even more concerning. It was the start of hell. Home was supposed to be happy and safe but instead it had became the opposite. The planet Riconasince became difficult to admire and enjoy for the two. Some days, Martay screamed and clawed into the wall and shrunk down when Rax couldn't get the pain medication for his friend.

And he was terrified as each day waned that the others would find out. He had him in a pain facility for awhile. But Martay talked and rambled and complained and whined and cried about the frame up. It made him increasingly terrified that the Galactic justice tribunal. Each day that someone passed by Rax's tunnel, his senses rose, and his heart rose up in terror until their shadows had trailed by. And he made a pain placebo that dulled the pain for a time. Until one day, shadows came into his tunnel. Rax looked up then relaxed spotting the two Earth men in silver spacesuits completed by silver helmets that had a large window. Rax closed his eyes then reopened them and smiled at first facing the Earth men.

"Oh. . ." Rax said. "It is just you."

Don crashed Rax against the wall.

"Was it worth framing him?"

"No! It wasn't! My friend! He is in pain!" Rax pointed toward Martay. "Help him. Please!"

John knelt down toward Martay.

"It looks like the mutation isn't impacting him as severely. Neutralized." John noted.

"Can you help him?"

John looked up toward Rax.

"Can you fix him?" Rax corrected himself.

"No." John said. "He has to live with it. This is hell enough as it is." He looked up toward Rax. "I am very sure it is a crime to frame someone."

"It is." Rax nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. "I have been trying my best to help him but I can't. He can't live with this pain."

John put a hand on Martay's shoulder.

"Do you want to be released?" John asked. 

Martay nodded, painfully, then the major looked toward John.

"John." Don said. 

"It is the only way that we can help him." John said. "There is no cure. And he is suffering greatly. Get the vaporizer from the Jupiter 2."

"What about Rax?" Don asked.

"We bring Rax to the Warden's warden." John said. "It would be in his best interest to numb the pain."

"It is never pretty helping a alien out of their misery," Don said, regretful.

John froze then looked up toward the major as a memory flickered in his mind and it clicked. Don left the ship then returned into the Jupiter 2 and took the experimental vaporizer from the weapons rack then went down the stairs carrying the weapon in his arms. He sped for the the tunnel then lowered down until he were back in the passageway. He handed the weapon to the professor then John aimed and fired. Martay relaxed then vanished in a red fog. Rax wept, his head lowered, for a passage of time then readied himself and stood up to his feet. 

"I am sorry." Rax apologized. 

"Smith wanted me to give you a message," Don said. "Gave me it before we got here."

"What is the message?" Rax asked. 

"He is sorry for your loss." Don said. "And forgives you for the mistake."

Rax nodded then looked toward the two, crest fallen, sadly. 

"We should never have met your friend." Rax said. 

"I agree on that." John said.

* * *

The Jupiter 2 was stationed on another planet, in another solar system, when Rax turned himself in and the trial went through extensively. The news that Smith was to be released any day now were ones that brought smiles to the Robinsons's faces. It was night when the visitors booth returned to the Jupiter 2 with Will at the front door waiting in his night robes sitting on the steps cupping his chin in his hands. He bounced up to his feet then stormed out toward the doorway and into the booth.

"Where is Doctor Smith?" Will turned away from the wall.

"He is too unwell to make his way." replied the prison guard. "He needs help walking."

"Too unwell?" Will frowned. "But I was told that he was getting better."

"He is getting better." the guard insisted. "His nutrition needs are what we cannot give."

"Okay." Will said.

Will watched as his surroundings changed to that of the prison planet. The planet that hadn't changed since his last multiple visits. The door opened then Will made a run for it. Will ran past the barren and heated beds of sand that were getting to cool down as the night was descending over the land.

He came to a pause spotting the older man was seated on the edge of a rock. Right across from the other inmates with his newly given belongings on the rock beside him while cupping his face in his hand on his knees snoring away. Will grew a large grin on the edge of the sand dune then slid down the edge.

"Doctor Smith," Will came to Smith's side then shook him by the shoulders. "It's time to go."

Smith jolted awake, with little startle, his eyes fluttering open quite tired but grew pleased to see him.

"William, my dear boy." Smith started, offering out the pick axe to Will. "Will you do me the honors? I seem to have little energy to do that task."

Will nodded then took the pick axe.

"Sure, Doctor Smith." Will threw it over his shoulder.

"273, stop throwing your pick axe at me!" the inmate shouted from afar.

Smith and Will shrugged it off with little care to the problem.

"Let's go home." Smith said.

"You said it." Will said.

Smith used Will as his support to get up. Smith started to lose his balance but upon grasping on the child's shoulder, he was right and stable. He picked up the pardon papers, his bundle of clothing, his boots, and a small brown sack full of silver. They walked on made their way around the sand dune then on into the waiting booth. The sound of the door closing brought certain relief upon Will as he closed his eyes and sighed, relieved, that it was all over. Smith walked on ahead of him in the booth letting go of the young boy's shoulder.

Smith leaned himself against the wall and sighed in relief once the doors closed behind him. His fingers grasped on the wall as Will turned from where Smith was supposed to be standing toward his direction then began to approach him in concern. Smith's shoulders lowered as a big sigh was released.

"Continuous cool fresh air, hard surface, heat controlled temperature, a pillow." Smith turned his back to the wall then slid down slowly to the floor. "The luxuries of freedom! So cold." he put his hands on his knees. "Happily so! I can lay here forever and never wake up enjoying this moment! I never want it to end!"

"You can start your freedom by changing in the station." A guard suggested.

"Wonderful!" Smith clapped his hands together. "Take us there first! And maybe I can get some water."

"We don't have a water tank there."

"Oh well."

"We got a water jug out on the table back at the Jupiter 2, Doctor Smith." Will said. "I am sure that some of that will do."

"Oh yes! Yes, yes, it shall." Smith said as the leveler was grasped then looked up at the thought of water. The leveler was slid down. "Heaven."

They popped out of the booth at Destructon to the main base. The door slid open then Will helped the man up to his feet and helped him walk into the building. It wasn't hard to find the mens room but it was a journey well traveled. Will ducked out of the mens room and waited for Smith to call for him. Smith used the stall as his support up and the toilet as his resting place changing out of the uniform that was torn and tattered at places.

He rolled it up into a thin long rod then used the wall as his support out with the clothes tucked under his arm and wore silver new boots. He rubbed his forehead traveling through the clear bright white room that had a thin mirror large mirror that reflected back at him and he could see someone else who didn't appear to be so well.

Otherwise, it was himself staring back. Different, but the same pained and heavily troubled man. Changed and morphed even worn down by what Hell had put him through. He didn't look pretty at all. And he had lived to see it to the end. Maureen was right regarding the subject of hell. It didn't last for a year.

He used the wall as his support trudging forward. His eyes struggled to adjust to the lighting that stung them. His eyes wanted to close and enter rest so dearly as did he with each step that he took, each moment that he was awake, only guided forward by the reward of seeing the Jupiter 2. A place that acted as his motivator. Smith came to the exit of the mens room then started to stagger forward and Will maser beamed by his side helping the older man regain balance.

"I don't deserve a friend like you." Smith said.

"Yes, you do." Will scoffed. "Everyone deserves to have someone to call a friend."

Smith had a small smile down toward to the boy (who's attention was focused on what was ahead of them), admiring him, fondly then it faded.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Smith whined looking down with a frown. "I got something stuck in this over priced boot!"

Smith paused then turned the boot upside down and pebbles fell.

"Do you feel a little better?" Will asked.

Smith slipped on the boot then chucked the clothes into a 'prison uniform' machine as they passed by it. And the only pain that he could live with was left behind.

"I am beginning to." Smith replied. "Beginning to, my dear boy."

* * *

The first thing Smith did upon returning to the Jupiter 2 was use Will as his support to stand with one hand on the child's shoulder to keep him balanced up the stairs to the craft. Smith wasn't quite as healthy as he had once looked before the whole incident had began and his dark uniform was larger on him than it had been before. His skin looked pale under the artificial lights of the Jupiter 2. With little leeway, Don motioned the boy to hit the hay. The second thing Smith did after leaving Destructon was drink a entire jug of cold water before the major's eyes then lean against the counter.

"Smith."

Smith lifted his attention toward the major.

"Yes. . ." Smith lifted a brow up.

Don leaned forward, his hands clasped around the coffee cup, looking toward him.

"Are you okay?"

Smith only stared with a occasional blink to him.

"You?" Smith asked.

"No, this is about you." Don said. "You just drank all the left over cold water."

"I have." Smith said.

"My god, you are a space orc."

"Thanks." Smith laughed.

"How is your throat?" Don asked.

"Fine."

Smith slid the jug back to the counter.

"Then why are you just saying one to two words?" Don asked.

"Bad throat." Smith turned toward the younger man.

"Mean to say that all the cold water made the wound come to life?" Don asked. "The one that _he_ gave you."

"Yes." Smith looked down upon Don in concern. "Trouble?"

"No trouble actually." Don reassured. "We got some good water found that we can replace it with on this planet."

"Name?" Smith asked.

"Vahalla." Don said.

Smith snickered behind the major.

"Excellent distinction,"

"Smith."

"Yes?"

"Go to bed. You're tired and in no condition to speak or hold a full length conversation. And it is pretty late."

Smith looked out the auxiliary deck then back toward the major.

"Okay." Smith said, resigned.

Don turned toward the older man.

"How bad is that throat burn?" Don asked.

Smith was silent as he looked down.

"Fine."

"Smith, talk to me about it." Don said. "Was it working well before. . . Martay?"

Smith looked up toward the major, and it was then, that he knew, body language was his language.

_You know I can't talk when my throat won't cooperate, Major. And even I wanted to. . . I don't know the answer.  
_

It was his eyes that told him the story. The pain, the sorrow, the anguish,and desperation to _talk_. Even in great length to the major. And his lips were quite dry at first glance cracked to a glance. Even as they were coated in a fine film of moisture. Smith lifted himself using the table then walked over toward his room in his clothing that didn't quite fit him as it used to.

As if he had lost a significant amount of weight that made his changed figure become highlighted and look truly alien to Don. But his walking style hadn't quite changed despite the changes in appearance with his hands in his lap then silently come to his stateroom then slid the door open.

"Good night, Smith."

Smith turned toward the major then smiled in a way that easily told what he wanted to say; _We've come so far. You and I? I hope this friendship ages well._

"Night."

Don watched the man vanish before his eyes into the cabin and silently close the door. Don picked up the booth summoner then went out the door to the Jupiter 2. When Don returned to the Jupiter 2, his knuckles were coated in a film of blood.


	7. Take care

Smith rested.

How long, he wasn't quite sure.

Modified humans slept longer when safe and sound and recovered slowly.

Above all, he could sense, the presence of the Robinsons visiting him from time to time.

He sensed Robot enter the room, wheeling in, and stand there watching over him. The coldness throughout his body began to leak away each moment that he lasted in the dark regaining his health. Robot made little to no comment during his stay with the doctor. And it was quite odd. Worrying, even. As if Robot were a phantom that could be sensed and not heard.

As if he knew regarding Smith's predicament and only offered companionship as time waned on past him.

The thought was enough to sooth him and rest his thoughts.

* * *

"Good morning, Doctor Smith." Maureen greeted.

"Good morning, madame, major, Judy." Smith greeted Maureen.

"Morning," Judy and Don replied.

"How long was I out?" Smith asked.

"A month." Maureen said. "I thought you were never going to wake up in this century."

"Impressive. Last time, it lasted for four weeks," Smith said. Everyone stopped and stared at him as he shrugged. "North Korea was rougher than this."

"North Korea?" Don whipped toward Smith. "When did you go to North Kora?"

"During the great war," Smith said. "Sometime before the great war became a civil war for America."

"Why?" Don asked.

"America had a dictator, Major. A childish mentally ill businessman with the skin of a cheeto. And he wanted to make America just like Russia. And he had the backing of the Republican Party, currently and thankfully defunct, **behind** him." Smith said. "Democracy won. After a long and grueling war."

"Hold on just a moment!" Don stood up. "America would never do that!"

"America. is full. of idiots. And I really wish that the FBI hadn't put our real president in the public box and destroyed her election chances!" Smith said. "I lived to see his face on the news. Every single day. Every day until the presidency was redefined as a monarchy and he was **ABOVE** the law. He had enough black mail over the Republicans that they **STOOD** through **SEVEN YEARS** of **WAR** and did **NOTHING. NOTHING! NOOOTHING!** "

"Thousands of people **STARVED** to death, Major! **RIOTS! PROTESTS**! We fought back! Mass arrests! Democrats business were broken into. **PEOPLE DIED THAT DAY.** That day as the police became the resident's arm to target his enemies and shut down the news networks criticizing him and tossed them into jail. The police force turned into a military force! A million people starved to death. No, MILLIONS! And they did **nothing** to restore the food programs for the poor. Not even lifted a finger. Democracy died in celebration and confetti that day that he won."

Smith sneered.

"I watched as America became a war zone from the sidelines." Smith said. "Upon my return, I saw what it had became!" He paced back and forth, disturbed, distraught. "And it was the most horrifying heartbreaking and agonizing experience I went through back then watching the place I loved be reduced to rubble because of one man's desire to remain in power and oppress people. I don't say this lightly."

There was silence.

"So that's why you are so angry." Don said. "Never really goes away watching that injustice."

Smith looked from the women then toward the major.

"Never." Smith said then retreated into the bathroom.

* * *

Smith trimmed his beard back into the goatee and cut his hair until it were back the same way that he had left Earth. He chose a new uniform that consisted of a black, dark green, and dark purple combination. Then he noticed upon exiting his stateroom of the Robinsons congregating near Judy's room, the Robinsons primary theme had became dark colors with the colorful secondary themes. He frowned upon coming out of his bathroom noticing these differences. It was as if they had shifted from the bright colorful scheme into the dark version. 

Or that someone washed black with the colorful themes and dulled it down. It was strange and unusual. A part of him flickered with the thought; _is it getting darker than necessary?_ Perhaps, it had always been as dark and grim for them but hope overshadowed it. The concern slid off his mind with the easy to accept explanation. Will's uniform was no longer a bright purple but a dark purple-red with the yellow dickie and v-neck bright green theme remaining the same. Judy was panting holding on to her mother's hand as her head fell back into the pillow. He looked over spotting a pool of water near the galley. Her water had broke. 

"Please, my dears, step aside." Smith said. "I will check how close she is."

The group parted ways then he checked.

"She will be ready in fifteen minutes!"

"Fifteen minutes!" Penny said. "I can be a aunt!"

"And I a grandmother," Maureen said, proudly.

"And I a mother!" Judy said. "I am scared."

"It is alright to be scared," Maureen said. "I will be there at every step of the way."

"William, get me a blanket." Will left. "Professor, I like you to get scissors." John bolted. "Penny, get Debbie." he twirled a finger. "Major, a bucket for the umbilical cord. Quickly." Don was gone like a ant. "It is going to get very messy very quickly." Smith glanced toward Judy then reassuringly smiled. "And you will need a adult diaper for a little while as the uterus empties itself once the baby is gone."

"Really?" Judy asked.

"Yes, really." Smith glanced toward Maureen. "Did you not tell her?"

"It has been so long since I had Will . . ." Then Maureen assured. "I will tell you when it is best to shed it."

"Fortunately, we are not doing a c-section!" Then Smith shook his head. "Heavens, if this were happening in spac-I would be extremely worried about the newborn's reaction to that!"

"Would it be a lot more bloody if I had one?" Judy asked. 

"I can't say that without making you faint, my dear," Smith said. "Major." he regarded the new father. "Thank you. Penny, gloves, please." Smith slid his hands between her legs then watched as the child crowned.

"What do I do with Debbie?" Penny asked.

"You let her watch a new member of the family join," Smith said.

Smith slid the trash can beside him as he looked in.

"Hmm, the child is coming out rather quickly."

The child fell out of the birth canal to the cheers of everyone in the room with a loud wailing.

"That's my boy!" Don said.

"Let's get him all washed up and cleaned." Smith said. "Only after, _you_ do the honors."

"Don," John handed Don the scissors. "Time to disembark from the mothership."

"So is." Don said then snipped it off.

In a matter of moments, the child was cleaned then wrapped in a light green blanket then placed into Judy's arms. Smith walked away taking his gloves off as the crew cooed at the newborn. He looked around the courtroom scanning for the familiar hunk of machinery and his face started to display confusion and uncertainty. He looked around as Penny came to his side.

"Doctor Smith, what is it?" Penny asked.

"Where is Robot?" Smith asked looking around the ship. "I like him to do a massage. I haven't seen him all day."

Penny stifled back a sob.

"Doctor Smith. . ." Penny said.

"Yes, my dear child?" Smith looked down upon the young girl.

"Robot is gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" Smith asked. "Where has he gone?"

Penny pointed up.

"Ah, on the bridge!" Smith said.

Penny shook her head with such heartbreak that belonged to a older woman.

"We buried him while you were sick." Penny said then Smith dropped the can of moisturizer, startled, looking down toward her.

"Did I hear you right, child?" Smith asked, quietly, only to get a nod in return. "What happened?"

"He was trampled to death." Penny said. "We buried him while you were at Destructon."

Smith knelt down then picked up the can of moisturizer and nodded as he lifted himself up.

"I see. . ." Smith said. "How did he get trampled to death?"

"Rax shoved him off a cliff." Penny said.

"Child, I will be on a little walk," Smith said. "I will return in a few hours. Tell your mother to save some dinner for me."

"Okay, Doctor Smith." Penny nodded.

It was a lie that gave him enough time to make a run for it. Without Will trying to talk him out of it. Reassure him that it wasn't his fault. But it was, in all respects. Robot had little chances of being gone forever before he entered the picture. And now, he couldn't ever come back.

"Good." His smile was so malevolent that it was hard to tell it was sweet and heartbroken. "See you later, my very dear child."

Smith smiled down upon her then looked over toward the red claw on the table across from him. Smith lowered his gaze, regretful, as she walked off carrying Debbie in her arms quite happy. A sharp contrast to what they should be feeling regarding the loss of a long term companion. And yet, it told him that they had quickly grieved and moved on over the loss. A loss that was too heavy to be forgotten.

He came to the red claw, lightly patted on it, then returned to his cabin. He slipped out of the Jupiter 2 clothing directly into the clothing that he had entered the strange and bright but hopeful place. He took out a slip of paper then a pen and jotted down:

_Dear Robinsons._

_It's all my fault that Robot is gone. I am deeply sorry for your loss and feel for it. I should have left long ago. Long before certain elements of my universe slipped in further and infected yours. If I had only left after Mr Cackler then he would still be here. The infection will go away by the time you read this and everything will slowly return to the way it is meant to be._

_One way way or another, I don't anticipate you to be happy but neither am I about this matter. I should never have ran away from my universe, my dears. I have no regrets. For I have helped you become a new version of yourselves for the future ahead_.

Sincerely, **Doctor Zachary Smith.**

He folded his clothing and set it on the bed. He came to the doorway then slid it open. He looked from side to side then saw the Robinsons having a bout of laughter at the unnamed child. It caused Smith to have a smile. He wanted it, so desperately, to have that. To be around these kind people that he called family. But, he could not keep it or have it. And that was fact. He didn't belong and he never did. _If it weren't for me, Gunter would still be here._ He closed the door silently behind him then slowly with little noise and little attention to him came to the residential deck's exit. Smith took one last look at the happy family.

And he knew what his counterpart was feeling momentary before walking out the door. Even thinking at the moment. This time, he looked at them with fondness instead of utter hate and total disregard for them. Why did time and space decided to remember him? Not when they were the most deserving for their characters to echo. Not just him and Robot. The pain _he_ must have been in before taking that fateful step forward and away from them was the very same one that Smith was encountering. Leaving his chronic pain in the background largely ignored but easy to hear. Commander Gampu was born of other means, far from Zachary Smith, preferably a doppleganger. Likely a alternate future.

This was how he wanted to remember them before everything went downhill for them with his continued presence. He stranded them. And this time it was for forever. And it was only going to get a lot worse for them if Chronos fixed his laboratory and time resumed. It was going to become bitter, difficult, sad, and dark just as his world if he continued to stay. _And it is all my fault._ And it would have sucked out all their hope.

 _It is all my fault._ Leaving them with hope that things were going to get better from this point was better than staying and infecting the innocent world even further. Leaving them with laughter. At least, they retained their _hope_. And things would get better from this point forward one way or another when it came to them. They made it _so_ easy to care for him. His counterpart deserved this family instead of him. To have stayed alive and well with them six feet above and well after the Bronius adventure; his happy ending.

He took in a deep breath listening to their laughter then walked out and closed the door behind him making his way down the stairs. He lowered his head for a moment as he descended down the stairs. He walked away from the Jupiter 2 then took a turn toward the ship then looked on feeling his heart aching and breaking inside. He looked back at the last three weeks that he had spent with them on Tremfya before being struck down with certain illness.

"It is going to be alright." And this time, saying it to himself, he was _certain_ of it.

He had a small wave at the friendly ship.

"Take care of them, Jupiter 2." he turned away then softly added. "Adieu. Adieu, Robinsons."

Smith walked on back into the darkness that was made by the cluster of trees looming over the area away from it. He looked from side to side, warily, cautiously, then his mood visibly shifted looking toward the small herd of ducks waddling past him. A smile and a lowered guard were the change that was quite visible. He listened to the minds of the travelers who were wandering away from their craft. The craft was only a mile or two away from the Jupiter 2. And it was well stocked. The travelers were having a night out on the planet taking a break from space.

He held on to that moment. He held on to each and every moment to keep them alive. The creatures of hope contrasting against the canvas of hopelessness. He looked toward a fallen nest then found screaming baby birds and what appeared to be a small bat. He picked it up then placed the nest on to a tree branch then walked on. Once, he would have ignored it and left it be. With aid and care to the smallest form of hope it was capable of becoming a napalm blaze that never ended. He walked on further into the forest until coming to the craft that he desired.

Smith sighed, lowering his head, facing the abandoned and dark spacecraft. He approached the door to the craft then pressed a button and the door opened in a moment. He turned toward the outside of the source of hope. He could hear the sounds of hope in his mind from the songs sang thought by the most poetic creatures in their minds and the feelings of determination that they will find what they seek for. Just like the Robinsons. He closed the door then went up the stairs to the bridge and began to flip switch by switch turning the power on. The inside of the ship hummed to life as the buttons glowed brightly and the view screen became outlined in bright baby blue.

The craft lifted into the air detracting the landing gear. He looked on toward the shape of the Jupiter 2 as the ship lifted further into the sky. Where he goes, they may as well be gone to him. But, they were not. Not as long as he held the memories of them in his mind. Even as he went to the best things in life. And making the most of the rest of his life. The lights to the Jupiter 2 stood out against the dark with high intensity in the warmth, innocence, and welcoming. He designated the course then watched as the Jupiter 2 shrank in size before his eyes until it were only a distant beacon to his eyes that became lost among the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disturbed - holding on to memories helped me write these last few passages.


	8. self made purgatory

Smith landed the craft in the hangar bay after several days in flight and eating the food in pantry regaining his original weight. He had been successful leaving the Robinsons behind and he knew that for both parties; everything was going to be okay. He was going to live. He moved through the crowd following the now ancient path to Smyth's bar. He opened the door then walked through the doorway and watched as everything changed around him to the scenery that wasn't so bright, optimistic, and hopeful. It became sad, it became dreadful, it became ugly. All the likes seen in a fever dream.

It lost its bright theme to the neighboring walls becoming a dark counterpart of itself. It became sour to his eyes. Depressing to a point. All there were people sitting at tables drinking with screens displaying the news. He searched for the professor and the major, the ones of this universe, only to find they were no where to be seen. Not even on the stools that he had first seen them. _And they never did go here._ Smith reminded himself. He walked out the back door then strolled out the passageway. He stopped in his tracks then turned around and saw the timeless, the classic, the friend that he ever needed back where they had first met.

 _"Doctor. . . Doctor Smith?"_ _Robot asked, raising his bobbed transparent helm up in shock. "This does not compute. This does not compute."_

It was only for a moment but it vanished. He closed his eyes then allowed himself to have a cry. One tear came down. Tears came down. Three tears came down. And he was never coming back to the Robinsons. He wept into his hands until all the nasty and uncomfortable feelings regarding his guilt in the part were gone. He wiped off the tears then turned around and went on exiting the narrow space. He trudged his way back to the forsaken shop then went toward the hangar where he had stolen the two piece outfit so long ago. He had it folded nice and neat then slid it on the table then smiled back, innocently.

"Here to return." Smith said, softly.

"Return what?" The wardrobe specialist looked up toward him, startled, tilting their three llama like heads.

"This choice of clothing." Smith said.

The wardrobe specialist stared down upon the outfit then back toward Smith.

"Sir, I have not seen this before." The wardrobe specialist said. "Never been on my hangar before."

"I took this off the hangar a long time ago," He placed the silver on to the table. "This silver will more than make up for it."

"Name?" The wardrobe specialist took out a blue pad and a thin pen object.

"Doctor _Zachary_ Smith." Smith tapped on the counter. "You may have heard of me."

"Ah," the wardrobe specialist grinned jotting on the screen. "I have!" they put the object aside. "That will cost you fifty pieces of silver!"

Smith put a extra ten on the table then stacked it on the top of the other.

"Sixty-four," Smith tapped on the stack. "Nothing more."

"All that you have?"

"Yes." Smith said.

And at that moment, he felt older. He felt twenty years older and heard the voice that went through the arch instead of the deep young one that had taken time to become accustomed to. The arthritis nagging at his bones were there for a moment then it vanished replaced by the consistent pain in his entire being.

" _All_ that I have."

And the aged whine compliance to it was replaced by youth.

"Take five back for a motel room." The wardrobe specialist handed the five coins back to him. "I wasn't expecting you to be this way." They stared at him. "Where did you get the third eye from?"

"Like it?"

"It is strange."

"And?"

"Looks unique on you."

"Thank you." Smith grinned then it faded replaced by his pride. "I have come to welcome and admire this new addition of me."

"I will take the clothing." they took the folded clothing and unfolded it. "How long have you had it?"

"Not quite sure." Smith shrugged. "I have only worn it; sometimes. The women have done their work tending the garment, I am sure."

"Looks very well taken care of and very new."

"I guess? It has been through a lot. And I don't mean that lightly."

The wardrobe specialist handed another five back to him.

"You sound like you have been through **hell**."

"That. . . I have, my dear." Smith smiled back. "I had friends and family to help me through it. And I owe them everything to be a better man then when I entered their lives."

The specialist smiled then hung the clothing on the hangar among the set of clothing. Smith went to another station and purchased McFlurry Oreo icecream to help soothe the pain in his heart. It couldn't help him with the constant chronic pain but it could help the emotional pain. He was nearly at the bottom when he looked up spotting a familiar young man going on by him. It was **himself**. He froze spotting his wary but scared counterpart who was visibly trembling. Had he trembled that badly when he was fleeing from them? He wanted to reach out and assure him- _no_ , Smith decided as a smile grew on his face watching his counterpart go to the hangar and grasp on to the two articles of clothing. _He needs to find that out himself_.

He had a single thought: _What if they see me? What if. . ._ Then remembered that he had a third eye. His younger counterpart lacked that. _No. I won't go back to that horrid family. Never. But I can watch_. He turned around watching the scene unfold just as it had happened so long ago. It was a matter of minutes watching his counterpart flee through the market place with the bracelet glowing on and off as he passed each building. He looked down toward his own, then noticed it was loosened and slackened, then slid it off and it was missing a bubble. He was thrown back to the moment in how he had lost it. He grimaced at the memory.

"Smith!"

Smith turned in the source of the familiar voice spotting West.

"Smith!"

He watched Major Don West and Doctor Judy Robinson pause in the middle of the market place.

"Damn it, we lost him."

"I am sure that he went this way."

"If he were a monster then he would be easy to spot." West scanned the environment with hate in his voice.

Smith watched his counterpart come out of the alleyway, trembling, holding on to his hands in a hunched position.

"Maybe he went into another building?"

West turned his attention toward Judy.

"Okay, we can try that building."

Judy and West went into a building as his counterpart discarded the Jupiter 2 equipment on the tables at the market place as he went past them. More so dropping them as bread crumbs. It was a intentional act. He was scared and a little unsure that this could work. After all the bitter failures to cure him of the infection leading him down this market place was noisy and active. It was more so of a jungle that his younger self easily navigated through. Smith looked down toward his own hands that were trembling holding on to the cup then back up. The door to the building that they went in opened. And his counterpart speed walked through the market place and the major came out catching a glimpse.

"He went that way!" West announced.

West ran after him.

"Don!" Judy called. "Don't try to kill him! He is scared as it is right now!"

Watching them run after him, their fates were sealed. He waited a few more minutes leaning against the station watching his counterpart become a specter. _Enjoy the Robinsons, accept them, let them in, Zachary! Before it's too late, this time!_ Was what he wanted to say but he couldn't say it. _Enjoy what little time you have around Robot!_ He stopped and wondered. _Was I always meant to be here?_ He recalled grabbing the garment then turned in the direction that he had fled from. He tossed the cup into the recycling bin including the spoon with it.

Smith turned away from the station then strolled toward the doorway ahead of him with his hands in his pockets. By now, the major and Judy were slowly making their way back to the family to report on the news that he had vanished without a trace. The correct announcement would be; he escaped. And he is never coming back. He turned away from the path that he went down before then went toward the shop. He opened the door then entered the building. Older but somewhat wiser than when he had left this timeline. Older than how he had left the Robinsons for a better future.

The door closed behind him softly but gently. And he raised his disguise up covering up the permanent features the mutation had left behind. Eglardo entered the room cleaning a goblet that he dropped with his eyes on the man. The goblet shattered into several pieces once landing to the floor. A large floating machine went over it and sucking in the contents. The machine vanished from Smith's line of vision. Smith and Eglardo stared at each other. One was in shock and the other was in righteous contempt.

"It. . . It. . . It worked," Eglardo said, almost speechless with eyes in awe. "It worked."

"I am here to return your machine," he carefully took the machine out of his long pocket then handed it into the shopkeeper's hand.

"Come in, please!"

The awe melted away into a confident smile and a dark look in the man's eyes. A look that he had seen many times in his lifetime on Earth and on the space station waiting for time to catch up with him the long way. One that had helped him get through life before and after the war.

A darkness that was necessary to bring him home. A darkness that he hadn't seen in his first time walking in through the doorway into the shop. He was young even clouded by fear and desperation back then. How did he not notice that? The major's words struck back at him. He was too distracted by his own pain. Smith walked past Eglardo.

"Here is some tea," Eglardo handed the tea cup to the man then went over toward the door and applied his hand on to a light blue screen. "You have been on a long and perilous journey."

Smith leaned against the counter as Eglardo turned back toward him as the door had a unreadible click.

"You don't know the start of it," Smith took a good long sip leaning against the counter then set the tea cup alongside the cashier. "I come to ask for a little more of your help."

A glint showed off from one of Eglardo's eyes behind the visor.

"Anything," Eglardo looked down toward Smith in awe.

"I want to be sent back to my home planet," Smith said.

"That is very specific," Eglardo said.

"You sent me somewhere that helped me. You can do it again," Smith said. "But . . . it has to be this universe."

"What system?" Eglardo asked.

"The system in which I came from," Smith said. "Earth."

Eglardo mulled it over then returned their attention on to Smith.

"Where do you want to go to your home world?" Eglardo asked. "Anywhere more specific on the planet?"

"I will input the date and time to the machine," Smith said. "That is for me to know."

"You don't know how to operate it," Eglardo's comment earned enlarged eyes from the older man.

"Do not challenge your elders, Eglardo," Smith said.

"How . . . How . . ." Eglardo started. "how do you know my name?"

"You once had a dream of becoming a intergalactic police officer," Smith said. "He was the first man to cross paths with me after I went into the bar."

"Once," Eglardo said. "I did. But that was in a time. . ." he stopped. "There is not much darkness where you went."

Smith looked off momentarily back at the past growing a small fond smile at a memory and back again at Eglardo.

"There is more hope, kindness, and patience there then you can imagine," Smith said.

"So. . ." Eglardo slowly stepped aside. "heaven?"

"Heaven is a place that you make," Smith shook his head walking in then turned toward the shop keeper who closed the door behind him. "It's always there."

"How long have you been in this station?" Eglardo asked.

"Four standard minutes," Smith replied as Eglardo locked the door behind him.

"Four standard minutes," Eglardo raised a eyebrow. "That long. . ."

"I wish that you don't try this on someone else," Smith plead. "No one deserves to go through what I did."

"Arranged," Eglardo looked down toward the bracelet. "This have all the data I need-" he stopped looking down toward the contents of the bracelet and his eyes were wide. "What happened to the other glass bubble?"

"My colleague happened," Smith said, ruefully. "I had no choice but to send him through a very weak multiphasic barrier."

"He is never coming back," Eglardo said.

"There is a possibility that he can-"

"He can't," Eglardo said.

"How are you sure that it only works twice?" Smith asked.

"I thought it worked like a card would and the barrier was the door in my experience," Eglardo said. "If he does come back then it will be to his own timeline."

Smith's heart momentarily stopped for a moment.

"What do you mean by his own timeline?"

Eglardo tapped on the device and took out a replica of it: one glowed black and the other glowed a navy blue.

"You never came back to your native timeline, Doctor Smith," Eglardo said.

"Where am I?" Smith felt his stomach drop.

"You are in one similar to it but not too quite," Eglardo said. "That's the one glitch of the machine as it turns out." Eglardo shook his head. "You never quite return where you come from."

Smith shook his head.

"That's not possible," Smith said. "I am in my native timeline! I am! I am!"

"These glass balls say otherwise," Eglardo tapped on the bulbs. "Your colleague never goes where you went. You are from the bright timeline."

"Bright timeline?" Smith repeated, raising his brows. "I recall being from the dark one!" Then he paused. "Oh . . ." He looked back as Will's words sunk in, _"You don't represent it anymore."_ sunk in his mind. Then he frowned once scanning the contents of the room including Eglardo. "But that doesn't explain how you are not a police officer. Neither does it explain seeing everything happen the way it had before." He glared toward Eglardo. "I am in my native universe. I have some hang overs from the bright universe so it is a false registration."

"That. . . would explain." Eglardo said. "A few things."

"So, I am in my native universe, after all." Smith said.

"The darkness still flickers off the band, but now you, you are just-" Eglardo stared at him shaking his hands trying to grasp a intangible object. "Radiating the light."

"I like being in the light," Smith said. "Thank you very much." He looked toward the wrist watch. "It is hardly radiating darkness." he looked up toward Eglardo. "Does your family have a history of mental illness?"

"It makes sense why my volunteers never returned. They went to a better timeline." he had a bitter smile looking down toward the floor for a moment. "So that makes you a . . ." A grin spread on his face letting the comment hang raising his head up toward the doctor. " _Refugee_."

"I didn't run away and come back only to go into the wrong timeline," Smith folded his arms with a shake of his head. "I am not a refugee."

"Your thing says you are,"

"I know I am in the right timeline! You are proof of that!" he jabbed his finger into Eglardo's chest. "I recognized you! You have the same visor, the same outfit, you look even the same from the first time I met you here so don't try to pull the rug under someone like me, you berating ogre!" he withdrew his hand from Eglardo's chest. "I saw everything happen the way it was meant to happen!" He held up his finger then stood on the tip of his long unusual toe and shook his finger. "I am the same person who. _just_. left. your. shop."

"Now, your back?"

"Healed," Smith said.

Smith's hands slipped over a piece of pottery tipping it over so that it crashed to the floor in front of him.

"Good!" Eglardo said. "Where are you going?"

"Running away used to do a lot of good for me," Smith said. "Once."

His voice high pitched as his senses alerted him that he was in great danger.

"And it did provide you with some use." Eglardo said.

"But I can't run away much longer." Smith admitted. "And I like to have a ride back home if possible since I have just proven to you that travel between universes is possible."

While talking, Smith backed away from Eglardo with his hands that were outlining the edge of the counter. He felt the air descend into a atmosphere promoting chills, stiffness in the limb, and heaviness in the heart. He can sense evil radiating from his very being. His heart raced as he began to tremble in the silence between them with his fingers outlining the counter that he was walking back alongside.

All very contrasting how long ago that Smith had sensed none of it from the man. It was plain as day. The once kind eyes had turned to darkness. His back met the closed door from behind. It was as if Eglardo had gone through a total character shift. A shift that spelled certain doom for the plan. Any other plan that meant getting directly back to Earth to surround himself with a predictable environment.

"You will go home," Eglardo pressed on a button to the vape. "Just not right this moment. But soon."

"What do you want?" Smith hissed.

"Your memories." Eglardo's comment earned horror.

"No!" Smith shouted.

"Don't worry, I will take the bad ones that you made where you went," he placed the vape on to the table as smoke drifted out of it falling over the counter coming down to the floor with a hiss. "You can keep the most precious ones!" Eglardo had a laugh. "I am a scientist but I am not _that_ cruel of a scientist."

"I want to keep them _all_ ," Smith protested as he stepped back from the being with a visible tremble. "All my memories before the cure and after them are not entirely pure!"

"Not everything is free," Eglardo said. "Everything has a cost."

Eglardo tapped on his visor.

"No! Nooo!" Smoke began to fill the room from around them. "Nooo! Noooo!"

Smith fled past the man as the barriers to the shopping windows came down. Eglardo's visor turned into a gas mask from behind Smith. The window was covered by a thin layer of metal. From outside, it appeared that the blinds had gone down and the text 'CLOSED' appeared on the door.

Within the shop, Smith was hitting the door with his side trying to force it open.

Eglardo's laughter was the last thing that Smith heard as he fell to his feet and landed to the floor losing consciousness.

"No. . ."

And he was welcomed into the black like a old friend.


	9. Chapter 9

"I have a bad feeling about this," Margret said.

"It will be okay, Margret," Eglardo reassured.

"What if I don't come back?"

"You will," Eglardo said "You will take the long way is all. Or the short way."

"How long did he wear it?"

"A long time," Eglardo said. "Long enough to make him into a brave Earth man to come back and face me."

"Turned a coward into a couragous man," Margret said. "Impressive."

"Yes," Eglardo said. "I need you to put this on when the exhibit starts before the audience."

"And then what do you need me to do?" Margret asked.

"You will know what to do when it glows." Eglardo grinned.

"Is this his?" Margret looked up from the bracelet in the glass case.

"No." Eglardo said. "I can't replace the missing bubble."

"Was it important?" Margret asked.

"Not really." Eglardo said. "Just a decoration piece. The first five bubbles were important."

* * *

Margret hesitated then dropped the slick wrist band on to her hand and watched as the small circular points expanded to become large bubbles. She looked up toward the roaring crowd then on toward her nodding companion beckoning her on. She was in a dark spacesuit uniform that had little design piece to it except it was a onesie and a strange neck collar at that. She walked up the stairs quite slowly but surely.

"Now. . ." Eglardo boomed toward the crowd. "Watch her!"

The bubbles glowed a bright green brightly in a pulsing way. Eglardo beckoned the woman on. Margret took a deep breath then on the stage with her eyes closed and her hands rolled into fists that trembled. She stopped in her tracks having difficulty with the barrier fighting against it. She was fighting against the against the fabric of reality as she took a step forward singing halfway in. The crowd cheered her on. She looked on toward Eglardo who nodded her on with a grin that acted as encouragement.

Margret headbutted the barrier vanishing behind the veil then so did her arm and leg then so did the other parts of her body. The crowd stood up to their feet roaring with applause. From behind Eglardo was dropped a pod out of the stage frame above by two large elaborate metal arms. A thin black film began to retreat away from the glass window ever so slowly as minutes ticked by. Drinks and food were given to the visitors one by one. In it rested Smith snoring away with his head lowered in a black two piece uniform. The loud applause disturbed his slumber bringing out of the comforting abyss.

Smith awoke raising his head up, his joints felt sore, and his throat was dry. He planted his head against the head rest as his eyes adjusted to the color of the scenery. It wasn't difficult to do adjusting his eyes to the glimmers of light fixtures and layers of dark colors. A long transparent tube came into his field of vision then slipped into his mouth so he bit on to it squeezing the water from it. It was yanked out of his mouth with a feeling of renewal surging through his being. His mind reeled through the chain of events that left him here. Bright light blinded him momentarily and he squeezed his eyes over the sound of voices.

"This is my volunteer," Eglardo stood beside the booth. "The man responsible for this ground breaking effort in traveling between universes."

It occurred to Smith as he shook his head.

"Now, you have seen my previous volunteer walk off into that side of the stage," Eglardo pointed toward Smith's left. "Right now she is heading right this way."

Smith's eyes became fully adjusted watching the crowd of unfamiliar people dressed in dulled but still as colorful day wear. He recognized several species among them as ones that had been around in the planet the Robinsons had stayed on but heavily different and their theme was darker versions of their counterparts. He saw a bright figure walk down the row that drew everyone's attention. Eglardo's grin began to fade watching Margret come closer. His happiness faded into sadness.

Gasps escaped from the crowd. No longer was Margret in a cardigan and a skirt but in a blue top and navy blue pants that had thick pockets. She had a confident stride, her head held high, and her hands were relaxed showing not a sign of fear. She walked up the stairs as everyone's eyes were focused on the scars decorating her exposed skin telling a story of war, survival, and victory.

"You look well for a dead man." Margret said.

Margret handed the bracelet back to Eglardo.

"Margret," Eglardo's voice softened and his facial features fell to dismay. From the box, Smith was struggling in the chair that restrained his movements that no one was paying attention to but only on the couple. "What happened?"

"I attended a star war," Margret said. "That is enough I can tell."

"I can finish this another time," Eglardo's voice was small.

"No," Margret shook her head. "I like to see your presentation conclude to finish this order of business."

Eglardo's grin returned.

"Ladies, gentlemen, entities!" Eglardo faced the crowd. "Watch this man vanish and reappear!"

"The passage of time will be different to him than it is to us so when he does reappear," Margret said. "He will be in a different uniform!"

Eglardo slid down a switch then the microphones turned off. Eglardo came to the console alongside the machine glancing off toward the colonel.

"Please, don't!" Smith plead behind the barrier as he struggled shaking his head. "Don't! Let me keep them! These are _my_ memories! Spare my memories!"

"When you put that wrist band on, they became mine just as you did becoming part of my experiment," Eglardo took off his visor then narrowed his many eyes back at the man. "On second thought . . ." Smith's vision began to darken as his head started to lower while breathing in the smoke filling in the booth. "I will not bring you back, after all!"

Smith glared up toward Eglardo, eyes of rage, his face twisting in fury while struggling to prop himself up.

"You . . . swindling . . . egotistical-" Then it was all darkness.

And everything changed from there for Smith to a familiar place: Mission Control; his medical lab. He watched himself walk through the doorway and the door close behind him. Smith staggered back and fell into the chair. He turned away from the door then put his hand on the table coming to grips. What had just happened? What had just happened? He wasn't quite sure.

One moment, he was preparing to wheel the plans of the future. He wasn't quite sure but as he looked toward the machine beside him; he saw a familiar model on the counter. It was a Apple Computer, circa 1997. He withdrew his hand and the modern variation appeared. He put his hand back on the keyboard then watched it reappear. He withdrew his hand feeling exhausted and rested his back against it. Dopplegangers were often times seen as a warning. Perhaps, he better not.

Then he remembered; The sabotage, the betrayal, the attempt to save himself, cell, the Robinson children posing as prison guards, the Proteus, the long and torturous month, going through the doorway, and that was it. And he was _home_. After a series of events that likely proceeded after his return and had to be difficult. He began to grin at the prospect then looked at his strange hands on the arm rest. He had little time to register these facts as he passed out.

He better _not_ join his counterpart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had. . . several variations of this stubborn chapter. . . being. .. written. . . since 2018 . . . As DIFFERENT. CHAPTERS. Each version had a different chain of events in my mind.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please listen to this song as Smith is in the court room and turns toward what is behind him-->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zaQVaaxba0

Goddard walked into his office reading a pad of what had been reported. The Jupiter 2 was lost. Lost and unable to be reached after the last contact with Jupiter 1, Major West, indicating they were flying toward the sun. Even the last communication that they were going to go into hyper drive. And they were lost without hope. Goddard stopped in his tracks then looked up spotting a all too familiar man at his desk with his feet stacked on the counter and his arms folded.

"Colonel Smith."

Smith smiled sliding one boot after the other off the desk then it slid down and put a hand on the counter tapping on it.

"General Goddard." Smith greeted the general while he leaned into the chair acting casual. "How good to see you."

Goddard glared down the colonel.

" _Why_ are **you** , of all people, in my office?" Goddard spoke in best but controlled voice with a glare that felt eerily familiar to Smith yet it carried a hint of irritation. "Wanted to repay the favor for me visiting Rambler?"

Smith propped himself up then got out of the chair and shook his head.

"To confess." Smith dusted his hands off.

Goddard frowned as his eyes tracked the colonel.

"Regarding your cynicism about the mission?"

Smith's eyes flashed open wide.

"Bah hum bug!" Smith walked past Goddard with a wave of his hand. "That mission was doomed at its bare concept, General."

"Can you please get out of my office." Goddard said, annoyed.

"Not until I confess." Smith turned toward the general.

"That you think this mission is doomed." Goddard sighed, exasperated, then rolled his eyes. "We got a lot of personnel who think that. We just lost the Jupiter 2."

"I am not leaving until you ask for a investigation until my finances." Smith said. "That I was wired riches by Global Sedition to perform sabotage for the mission. I murdered Captain Daniels. I sabotaged the rambler crane series Robot. I sent the ship astray toward the sun by overstaying my welcome. I awoke Major West. And the rest, you know." He was pacing back and forth relaying the information then paused in his tracks turning toward the General. "I am from the future."

"You are not being serious." Goddard turned toward Smith.

"I am serious as the planet dying," Smith replied.

"It's not dying!" Goddard said.

Smith had a long and weathered glare to Goddard.

"The crops are dying, floods have destroyed entire communities, smog has gotten difficult to live with!" He stood on the tips of his toes towering over the shorter man to his full height then set himself down and folded his arms. "And don't get me started on the buildings melting under the sun during the heatwaves."

Goddard stared Smith down quite shocked.

"Who . . . who. . ." Goddard said. "Who told you that?"

"Twitter, my dear General. And the likes of Reddit. You can't suppress the truth for long." he sat down into the chair across from the desk as Goddard paled. "I am not leaving until there is a arrest warrant."

"I got something better," Goddard said. "Throwing you out."

"Goddard, please." Smith folded his arms. "Look at this replica of the Jupiter 2 for one moment."

Goddard looked over.

"That's a concept-" Goddard watched as Smith's fingers landed on the item then held it in his hand and turned before his eyes into the outer saucer the ship had gone in. ". . . Artistic representation. . ." Smith leaned into the chair. "How long has this been happening?"

"Since I awoke; eight hours," Smith said. "Thought everything I had remembered was a dream."

"Until," Goddard said.

"I saw evidence of my own conduct on my comn." Smith replied.

"What happened?" Goddard said.

"The last I recall was fleeing from Major West into a bar then the next I know is that I am at my lab. I don't have a infection in my back, I have none at all, just the slight differences in my physiology. I . . ." Smith sighed. "I am not sure if this makes sense."

"None of it does," Goddard said. "Two eyes, one nose, one annoying mouth, and attentive ears."

"My body tells me that I have been through hell and came back and that I found a way to come back. So, I have." Smith held his hands up revealing the unusual and frightening horror that made Goddard freeze at the supernatural form. "And I assume it is to confess to my sin."

"You have nothing to lose then." Goddard said. "Except your life. If what you say is true."

"Right now, I am saving the life of Judith Robinson out there," he pointed toward the window that the general looked toward then back toward Smith. "I will be restricted to a cell by the professor. And the ship goes through a few things. . . ." Smith sighed looking down before lifting his head up and finishing in a single but desperate breath. "Because I sabotaged the Rambler Crane series mode. I am in two places at once because I am a time paradox and I plead with you not to authorize the Proteus!"

Baffled, Goddard stared at him. Alarm bells rang. How did he _know?_

"That's a scientific research vessel." Goddard then added. "And highly classified."

"Doesn't matter. Don't make it. For the love of God, don't!" Smith put it on the table and it remained its shape. "Make a rescue vessel. Please. The Raft. The Rescuer. The-anything will do! My life and the Robinsons hinge on this!"

Goddard's eyes shifted toward Smith.

"You are fully aware that by asking to be investigated by United Global Space Force, you may not come out of this clean." Goddard said. "And you will face death; humanely."

"I am fully aware," Smith looked toward the desk. "I can give you the coordinates of the planet. Only. . ."

"Only if what?" Goddard asked.

Smith walked toward the side then looked out the window in a moment of reflection scanning his memories. _Somethings may change, but the key players will be there. And they will wait for them._

"Only if West's colleague Jeb is assigned to the mission. He _needs_ a familiar face."

"Accepted." Goddard said. "What is the condition?"

Goddard waited for the other shoe to drop.

"And the condition is, I like to be confined to stasis after the trial." Smith squeezed his eyes close then opened them as he reconciled over the next comment. _"Forever_." he turned away from the window toward the general. "Since my counterpart can suffer the consequences to _your_ liking. This galaxy cannot tolerate two Doctor Smith's running around. Now can it?"

"Only if you're found guilty." Goddard hated it. He was negotiating with a potential traitor, saboteur, and murder. And the thought of it made his blood boil but he kept himself professional about it. And the look in Smith's eyes told him that it was really happening. And he was telling the truth. It was insane. It was bizarre. And it was _happening_ in his office. "And have evidence of wrong doing."

"That, too." Smith said. "I like it to be a punishment. You can inflict the full arm of the justice with. . . the saboteur."

"The saboteur, who?" Goddard asked.

Smith was quiet as he looked aside, looking down, tapping on his left temple then looked toward Goddard once the tapping stopped.

"Colonel Smith." Smith replied. "Please refer to me directly as Doctor Smith. It will clear much of the confusion for the classified material regarding the rescue of the Jupiter 2."

Goddard stared him down.

"And in the mean time, while we investigate you," Goddard said. "Where are you going?"

"A holding cell as soon as you put **ME** in under suspicion of sabotage." Smith said. "Right at Mission Control."

* * *

The trial was clear and precise. The courtroom was crowded with each testimony on every day the trial was running with eyewitnesses found regarding his behavior leading up to the final moments of the Jupiter 2. He refused to speak of the future of the Jupiter 2. He had little knowledge about it. Little to tell. Little to reveal other than what he had known and had been urged by his defense lawyer, Elice, not to testify on the stand as he was doomed. Doomed. Not quite doomed but the future him was _doomed_. The sounds of photographs being taken were loud and clear enough to stand out against the talking. Even the sound of the microphone getting high pitched when the prosecutor was questioning eyewitnesses.

Mission Control's Colonist Health Clearance chief was a young man who spoke clearly and didn't show any contempt unlike the others. A red head who was a lackey or more often than not when it came to people like him, a goon, a henchmen, a instrument of evil, a instrument of the federal government using its strong arm to get what it wanted. Smith recalled handing the disks over regarding the final health examinations of the Robinsons and didn't seem to be suspicious of him in the very least. The most neutral member of the entire operation made of men and women helping the Robinsons prepare for the mission.

The basic and fragile skeletal system that could be compromised at any moment and fall part with a single step. That was what they were in all of the comparisons on Earth. They were the supporting system of the operation that allowed the Jupiter 2 to fly off from Mission Control to break through the atmosphere of Earth for space. One that he mockingly called Alpha Control. Waiting in a cold and dead rodent infested cell did nothing to feel worse. He had felt worse. The terrible treatment was nothing compared to the little accident that threatened to alter his mind.

The sound of hearing people walk by the court reminded Smith many times over: _You're home. You're not alone. You're safe. And the future is uncertain._ Just the way that he liked it. A bit of mystery in the dark was better than seeing what was ahead within the dark being even more dreadful than exploring the dark at all.

The cell door to the holding cell opened with two federal marshals waiting in front of the doorway. He was in a new change of clothes retrieved from his apartment days earlier. A suit worn at a funeral. In many ways the trial was the funeral of a hired assassin not a once high rising global space force officer. Not a promising and well decorated spy with rewards that were classified.

Now, today, was the day that he would find out his fate. That was all he was there for. It was not just sentencing. It was the fate of the man who would be awake to see it happen and face the consequences of his actions. It was determining if they in fact believed the prosecutor over the wild story spun by his defense regarding being trapped aboard the ship after staying too long checking on life support systems to get a reduced sentence. The lawyer hadn't liked the approach, admitting on the stand, only disputing the facts and the fact that he had gone through a ordeal to come back.

He was escorted to the court room that was filled up quickly. Everyone sat down into their seats all at once with a sound that echoed through each layer of the room. The judge arrived to the chair then it began as it normally had. A blur that he could skip over. But, he chose not to.

He closed his eyes, wincing, at the nagging thought to look behind him. _They are watching you_. The urge grew strong that it nagged at his conscience. Nagged him, _turn around. It is imperative that you look behind._ A nagging feeling that aided him through his long and decorated life.

He looked over his shoulder toward the row of reporters. There was a familiar young woman with dark hair in her forties at the back beside a camera man as she had a hand on the side of her ear and frowned at what she was hearing. A name echoed in his mind. And he frowned, perplexed, for a moment. _Penny._ And in the flash of his eyes, she was a young girl with dark hair and bright contrast of purple and green, smiling, playing with her experimental earrings then she was older once more. It was coming to him. _  
_

_"See you later, my very dear child."_ And he had.

A blonde well aged woman was standing beside her waiting patiently with her hands clasped in her lap. She was staring at him attentively with bright blue eyes that were neutral but fierce. The image of her smiling leaning back into the chair with her hands clasped in her lap beginning to laugh replaced it. It all came flooding back to him about the last eternity. All the good and bad memories were shown before his eyes. _Judy._

General Goddard had his back to the women with eyes that were endless pits of scorned wells. Their last conversation echoed and the single word of 'Jupiter 2', his mind clicked in recognition then smiled: they _had_ echoed in time. _Major West. **The** Major West._ His older appearance was replaced by a drastically younger but more recognizable version of himself, in a silver and orange uniform, raising eyebrows facing a view screen decorated by space and his hands were grasped on the two handles of the craft. A memory that flickered away.

Among the onlookers was a red head in his forties drawing on a painting with his attention shifted down toward it- _William-._ A image of him as a young boy replaced looking at him giving a dirty look with his arms folded seated in the far off chair at the galley. Anger and disgust toward him. It all felt so long ago. And it _had been_ a very long time ago. Smith looked, regretfully but apologetically, toward the specter. A specter angry at him for not bidding farewell. The mirage ended, vanishing like a fog, replaced by a stranger. The artist raised his head up meeting Smith's gaze then flipped another page and began to quickly scribble on the paper lowering his head.

And he sat beside another red head in her sixties. The face was so familiar. _Maureen_. Her eyes were replaced from anger to kindness and her scornful furious restraint was replaced by a smile in the image that replaced her aged appearance making her appear younger. It was the madame's counterpart. The _real_ counterpart in his mind. She had aged wonderfully and gracefully in a dark time.

From beside the well aging red head matriarch was a older man that strikingly resembled John with grayed hair and lines that weren't there before. Easy to tell who he was. His demeanor had not changed in the flash back, attentive, neutral, only lifting a brow up then the mirage ended. A sad and bittersweet smile replaced Smith's contempt then turned away from the onlookers.

"Please rise,"

The crowd stood up.

"Please," the judge said. "Sit." Everyone sat where they could in the court room. "Does your client have anything else to say before the judgement is given out?"

Elice looked toward Smith.

"I do," Smith whispered.

Then Elice stood up.

"Yes, your honor," Elice said.

The crowd from behind the defense and the prosecutor mumbled loudly in a way that was quite cross. The judge smacked the small hammer against its resting place stirring silence into the court room with three smacks.

"Is this to add insult to injury or. . ."

"It is about the Robinsons." was all Elice made herself say.

"I will allow for it," The judge said.

Elice looked down toward Smith then slowly seated down beside him. Smith cleared his throat then got up to his feet placing his hands on the table. He buttoned up the black suit with speed that belonged to a older man. Not someone in their thirties. It was slow and concise. The silence was overwhelming then he released a sigh that cleared the tension in the air. He raised his head up toward the direction of the impatient judge. It was ominous standing before his peers and someone who held his fate in his hands. It wasn't so much different from being threatened in space with people of his choosing.

"The Robinsons were. . ."

Smith stopped short, emotionally, turning his head away looking back at his time with the other Robinsons. No one wanted to hear that the Robinsons were on thin hope that was beginning to run down and despair was on every corner when it came to the ship making it to Alpha Centauri. No one wanted to hear that they were decades if not hundreds of years into the future searching for the planet. No one wanted to hear the sweet failures they would be undoubtedly facing in the voyage watching everything they held dear be consumed into flames.

" _Are_ the most kind, compassionate family I ever met," Smith continued. "Making me be part of it."

Smith shook his head, his eyes lowered, bitterly then raised his head back up facing the court.

"It makes me sad knowing that we don't have the hope they did . . ." Smith said. "There are days I feel that I did not deserve them. I didn't but then I did. Because of them, I finally felt human again. I had hope by my side. People who supported me. Something I lacked when I left this dying planet."

Loud alarmed murmurs broke out from behind Smith.

"Order, order!"

Smith lowered his disguise then turned around and shook his sinister yet demented hand. And there were screams. Screams that would have brought chills down to his own skin. Screams that he would have been part of. Screams that he would have agreed at one point. Screams that he disagreed with. He kept the disguise up as the crowd fled out of the courtroom that began to empty.

The gavel was slammed multiple times, echoing through the court room, as Smith turned away then seated into the chair and clasped his hands into his lap. He faced the judge with little display of being bothered by the commotion. The spectators left leaving only the artist, the military officers, the reporters, and the notably frozen audience members staring off in the direction of Smith.

"I will have order in this court! Earth is not dying! I repeat, Earth is **NOT** dying!"

The court room grew silent.

"Jury," The judge's fingers tapped on the desk. "What is your decision?"

"Your honor," started the short woman crumbling the paper in her hands. "we find Doctor Zachary Smith guilty on treason against Earth and attempted murder on the first degree."

"Members of the Jury, this Court dismisses you and thanks you for a job well done."

The judge shifted toward Smith a glare that could kill.

"Sentencing will be arranged when it has been decided."

The judge's eyes remained fixated on the man with contempt.

"For now, you will spend time in the best military prison on Earth. I have to think really hard and long about this decision. It isn't to be made lightly unlike the one that brought everyone into my courtroom," she picked up her small hammer then shook it in the general direction of Smith then lowered it. "This court is adjourned."

"All rise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you honestly think I would leave Maureen's counterpart without a John?
> 
> How cruel of you.
> 
> It's what she deserves in any cameo in the world of fanon!
> 
> And fixed error. It was Judy that Smith had to resuscitate.
> 
> Yes, the storyline was intended to end at the court room but I wanted to finish a story where Smith got to stay with the Robinsons and not apart. So I went in like a speed demon I was and made the necessary adjustments adding a few chapters here and there to give him a happy ending.
> 
> More like a lot of necessary adjustments and created a entirely different but worth traveling through story. And had to walk away for a entire year because building to that of getting to have both parties to have a happy ending needs lots of thinking and creativity.
> 
> And at one hundred sixty thousand some words, he demanded to stay with the Robinsons. So I had to go through MORE editing to try and give him that. Help from Dr Zachary Smith was greatly appreciated regarding why Will would go after Smith. Which is why it is gifted to them. Check out their stories! And I had to come back after Smith hijacked the story to get to the events that I wanted; not what _he_ wanted.


	11. Chapter 11

Earthly prison was so different compared to the one that he was familiar to. Bars instead of forcefield wall that stood in the way and made him feel less like a caged animal and more as a trapped human being. If he were still half of what he was turning into all those years ago then it would have been even the more harmful to his psyche. Smith was reading a biodegradable novel that appeared to be ready to be thrown out and discarded to the dirt. The normally yellow pages full of age from being reread many times was replaced by green appearing in the pages as thin lines standing out against the light green shade with leaves standing out. It was roughly close to needing to be thrown away.

He chucked it toward the recyclable trash can where it landed with a thud. The trash can shook from side to side then became still and silence returned into the room. It had been days since the trial. It felt like weeks if not months. It didn't help that the warden had organized his schedule in such a way that when he did come out of his shell no one was awake. And it was the cruelest aspect of the agonizing experience. Not knowing when Eglardo could yank him back from his home world back into a alien environment. Or if he was going to keep his word. It was hard to appreciate and enjoy being in a cold and hard environment that was more familiar than being in a alien's hold with that knowledge.

Military prison was nothing compared to the hellish landscape that he had lived in and uncomfortable living conditions that he had been shoved into. His door was completely gray with a rounded hole that had several bars. It was a wonder why they were being so protective over Smith when they could just let the other prison inmates take care of the problem that had almost certainly doomed the civilization and tried to benefit the other.

History was happening differently, Smith was sure of it. The future was the past; The Robinsons unexpected death, West growing furious, and Robot becoming all alone. Abandoned in a Jupiter 2 somewhere on a rock unknown. Or stationed on the abandoned Jupiter 2 freely floating in space, lifelessly, damaged, and hauntingly heartbreaking and beautiful at once. And incredibly silent. Now it wasn't going to be silent. It was going to be full of life with him in a stasis pod aboard the rescue ship waiting for the long journey home, the Robinsons celebrating being found, the freezing tubes being repaired, and Robot returned to his chamber. And the Jupiter 2 resuming her flight to Alpha Prime A.

His mind wandered over on the matter if only for a moment then wandered over to the past leading him home. The pain that he left the Robinsons in couldn't be measured. It could only be known at the heartbreak, anger, bitterness, resentment at not having the guts to say goodbye to their faces and leaving behind their backs. Even after recovering from his time at Destructon in a spare stateroom. No thank yous for all they had done. It was another cruel kind of agony taking off like that to them.

It was sudden, abrupt, and shocking. Just as how his counterpart had left them. He had abruptly left just as they had regained him. Just like his counterpart. _Time was of the essence! It had to be done! You had no choice!_ Smith reminded himself. _They could have lost the professor if I stayed for another month. Or. . ._ He grimaced as the image of the young boy, heartbroken, flashed across his mind. _William._ He shook his head. _Unacceptable._

Smith yanked out the unopened book from behind his head and ripped the packing off then tossed it into the recycling bin. He had plenty of books left to keep him distracted and not lose his sanity being alone. And he hated being alone. It was the same special kind of agony that plagued him for months and he could not pause it. It was his own personal hell that had been brought into existence. And Frank was obeying his very wish to the letter. He took out dozens of biodegradable paper from the night stand then picked up a pen that was anti-stabbing even modified to be unable to be turned into that way once being pressed against the skin.

_Dear Frank:_

_My hand trembles as I write this._

_Silly isn't it?_

_Ironic, the man with the neatest hand writing in the solar system being unable to write clearly._

_As it will be the only and last letter. Please don't reply. Don't, my darling. I am sorry for doing this to you. Here is the whole story. Right from the beginning. It started a long, long, long time ago on a planet called Earth in the solar system. It started in New York City before the great reformatting was set to happen. It started with Clarissa. It started in a room with two elderly people in love. . ._


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot changed from what I wanted because Smith and Robinsons demand for a happy ending. dedicated to DrZacharySmith for helping me for a very important plot point. Significantly important. So very deeply important and ingrained into his storyline regarding the Robinsons agony. Please go read their stories in the meantime. They are a awesome writer and a awesome person. 
> 
> edit: It was Smith's mistake of leaving the Jupiter 2 that prompted me into making this entire arch its own story.

It was quiet on the bridge of the Jupiter 2.

Not a sound could be heard from the consoles.

The three week old Robinson-West was fast asleep in his crib.

The family were scattered about in the galley in their dark themed pajamas as John folded the letter then put it back on the table. John slid it forward then folded his arms, stepped back, and sighed. It wasn't a exasperated sigh from the professor. It was a sigh of defeat. A sigh that meant he had read it after weeks of denial.

They were silent and solemn. The joy that once radiated through the residential deck had faded replaced by the feelings that were left behind from the event after. No one knew what to say regarding the matter after it was ran through. No one had the slightest idea of what had to be said in the mist of heartbreak.

"He is surprisingly consistent," Don was the first to speak. "I will give him that."

"He is." Maureen was the second to agree then frowned. "Things have been progressing quite dark. Long before he got here."

"Smith died because of my counterpart's presence." Don said. "And Robot because because of Smith's presence."

"No, he didn't." Will argued. "Doctor Smith did not represent his continuity anymore. He represented _ours_."

John lifted a brow as he looked down toward his son then lowered it down.

"He hasn't returned in the last few weeks pleading for help," John said. "So, he is in his continuity."

"But if Smith doesn't represent his continuity anymore then why did Robot have to face his fate?" Maureen asked. "It was a cruel kind of fate. The most horrible one there is. The unkindest of fates."

"Unless, someone of Smith's continuity is in ours. . ." Don shook his head. "Finding that person would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Doctor Smith once told me that Eglardo claimed if he came in then his counterpart would die," Will said. "What if; Robot is on his way here? What if, when we really grieving for him, that Robot will appear to us just like Doctor Smith did? And this time, this time, unlike him, he won't leave."

"But we do know he is on his way," Don said. " _if_ that is a sound theory."

"It is entertaining to think about," John said.

"Maybe, maybe," Judy said. "Maybe it will recede and it will be bright again. Things will return to normal."

"Being normal is having Robot and Doctor Smith around." Will said.

John's eyes shifted toward his son as did Maureen's eyes.

"We can't reverse that," John said. "Not as if we could bring the dead back to life."

"What if we could?" Don asked. "In the beginning, when Smith was around, I blacked out and dreamed I died then he regenerated my body and-"

"Was this on Tekuchi Seven?" John asked.

"Yes." Don said.

"We are not playing God," John said. "That is not what we are. We are mortals. I am sure that they would agree."

"But dad, it would be somewhat closer to normal." Will said. "Just what he wanted."

"It wouldn't be, Will." John shook his head. "We can't bring him back. And we can't bring back the Robot we know."

"Even if we could," Don said. "Think of what could happen. He wouldn't be the same person."

John grimaced at the thought as did the rest of the Robinsons excluding Will - who only smiled- at the moving and uncomfortable video playing in their minds.

"The only thing we can do is submit the loss of life into the record once we return to Gamma." John said.

"Nor can we replace Smith," Don said. "Complained about being a replacement goldfish," he snickered. "He doesn't want to be that one."

"So let's not make him one." Maureen said.

The family nodded in agreement.

"He is not coming back." John said. "We'll empty the Jupiter 2 of the unnecessary material then resume flight for Alpha Centauri. And give our Smith a proper burial at sea."

Maureen was the first to get up from the table then went toward the cabin that their Smith had once used on a daily basis. Judy was the first to cry then Don put his hand on her shoulder then his arm slid forward and brought her closer to him into a hug. Judy clenched his shirt as Will and Penny got up from their chairs then shared a hug. Will closed his eyes as John turned away from them then headed toward the rows of cabins. Maureen came back out of his cabin.

"Doctor Smith's belongings are missing." Maureen said.

John looked toward his family.

"Did any of you notice prior to him boarding the ship and leaving Tekuchi Seven that he had anything?" John asked.

The children exchanged a glance.

"He never held clothing as he left." Judy said.

"There was this episode where we have a entire two days unaccounted for." Don said. "In those two days, he could have taken his belongings."

"He didn't burn it, we would have seen the fire and found the remains of the fire pit afterwards." John grasped the back rest of the chair. "We have the coordinates to the planet and we are in space. Even a few weeks close to the planet." He scanned his family. "How many of you like to go back and get his belongings? Family vote."

Once again, everyone voted yes.

"Uh, John." Don said. "I got a little idea. That small vaporizer device that burns everything and turns them to ashes."

"What about it?" John asked.

"How about we give them a viking burial at sea?" Don said. "Robot's claw will burn for a couple hours against the vaporizer."

"Together," Maureen said. "Even in death."

"I like that idea." John said. "Can we do it?"

"It is possible." Don said. "I made a tricky box like it a month and a week ago. And Smith lost his finger over it."

"No, he didn't." Will said. "He had all five fingers."

"Will, he regenerated his finger." Don said. "Called himself a space orc that was part starfish."

"Oh," Judy said. "So that is why you were staring at the finger for a entire day!"

"Uh huh." Don said with a nod.

"If it is possible then we're doing it." John said. "Time we retire for the night." he patted on the back rest of the chair then looked toward the major. "Don, change our course for Tekuchi Seven. We have one matter of unfinished business to finish."

* * *

Don was on his shift looking out the window staring at the passing stars and constellations that they were passing by each passing moment. His once bright and silver spacesuit had became a darker version of itself with the lights on power reservation. He looked gloomy under the partial lighting in the bridge. From behind him, Judy approached him with her hands linked behind her back and paused by him.

"Don?" Judy started. "Are you okay?"

"I did die. But, we weren't grieving when my counterpart arrived. And he was very old." Don said. "He was here longer than Smith was. He could have been here this entire time."

Don looked toward Judy, hurt, distraught, and pained by the implication.

"He was here this entire time." Judy said. "That's why everything became wrong."

"I don't know how long he could have thought he could do it." Don said. 

"He was in his fifties." Judy said. "He may have been here for hundreds of years and no one noticed something was wrong about him because they weren't paying attention to things that he was holding."

"The kind of wrong that can't be shaken off without . . ." Don let the comment be left unfinished.

"Love, hope, optimism, and family." Judy said.

Don squeezed Judy's hand as his disturbed features fell with a small.

"We got the chance to have it." Don said. "And still have it."

It earned a little smile from Judy as she stroked the side of his cheek.

"That," Judy said. "We do."

"I don't regret getting to know every bit of you in this long journey." Don said, as Judy took his hand and he squeezed it.

"May I be on shift with you, Lieutenant Colonel Don Robinson-West?"

Don had a light hearted laugh looking back at her as his figure shook with laughter.

"You know that gets me every time you say that." Don smiled back at her. "Still feels like it's not real."

"Soon, you'll be a General." Judy said. "The most experienced General in American history."

"Every time I hear it . . . It feels like it isn't real." Don admitted. "Doesn't feel right having it. There is something missing that isn't there to make it feel it is really happening." he shook his head. "I don't know what it is."

"Far from civilization, it's not real." Judy admitted. "But to Gamma and the United States Space Corps." she lifted his chin up toward her as he played with his fingers. "It's something very real."

Don nodded, smiling back.

"Request granted, Mrs Robinson-West." Don said.

Judy sat down beside him in the neighboring chair.

"I wish that Doctor Smith were there to see you get that promotion." Judy admitted.

"So do I." Don said. "If we hadn't that firefight-" He closed his eyes. "He would have come back sooner."

Judy reached out then squeezed his arm.

"You did what had to done after he took out his side arm." Judy said.

"Why is it that I feel like we shouldn't have came to the bridge armed and tried to talk him into being in the freezing tube?" Don asked.

"Because it was a mistake." Judy said.

"The biggest mistake that I made," Don said. "Thinking he was mentally ill and we came with laser pistols to threaten him into stasis. That was a bad idea all around." He looked toward the stars then let go of a sigh. "The worst mistake of my life."

"At least. . ." Judy started. "At least, he got it out of the bag."

"You mean his confession?" Don asked. "We didn't exactly wait for him to reveal it on his own."

Judy winced at the reminder.

"It wasn't the most convenient way of him admitting what father believed." Judy said.

"We turned against him, we hurt him, and he confessed because we made it clear that he wasn't going to come out of it any time soon." His hands rolled into fists. "I feel so stupid acting like she was there and wasn't the same person he had been seeing. I feel so stupid not _believing_ him."

"Me too." Judy said.

"On the bright side." Don said. "That whole 'not believing Smith and something awful happens' isn't going to happen a third time."

"True." Judy said. "Never going to happen."

"And that is the silver lining." Don said. 

* * *

For the first time in a very long time, the landing legs of the Jupiter 2 descended down landing to the barren ground of Tekuchi Seven. A sigh of relief echoed from deck to deck to the Robinsons and Don. The comfort chairs were unbuckled then the family began to get out of their couch and head toward the auxiliary deck window ency with anticipation. They wore grins that spoke of gentle and kind closure. Their space suits weren't dark but now shiny and orange as it used to be.

Several long weeks had elapsed since starting the journey to the planet. It had been more than weeks since they had visited the planet. It had been more than unnumbered years that were left unaccounted for and unacknowledged as time that had been passed with the gap between Doctor Smith being on Beta 5. And Destructon.

The staircase leading down to the Jupiter 2 was wide and large than it had been many years ago. It wasn't thin and narrow as it had been in the beginning but appropriately a loading dock in terms of scope. John was the first to descend down the stairs looking around observing the changed landscape.

"Everything has changed." John said.

"So have we." Don said. "John, look. You've got gray hair."

John raised his brows as members of the family's eyes widened.

"It's true, daddy." Penny said. "You're going gray."

John's eyes widened.

"Maureen?" John asked.

He turned toward her.

"I am fine." Maureen said patting on the side of her hair with a smile. "Haven't gone that gray."

John looked toward his children then noticed that Will was a couple inches taller and his uniform looked tight and Penny's uniform looked quite smaller on her as if she were wearing children's clothing. Maureen looked toward Penny then she smiled, briefly covering her mouth with her fingers, as she was growing on the edge of tears. She appeared to be fifteen years old instead of a fourteen year old girl.

"Mommy, is something wrong?"

Maureen shook her head then grasped her into a hug.

"Everything is okay," Maureen said. "It is all okay."

Penny tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowing together, but smiled and closed her eyes enjoying the hug from her mother.

"How long have we been aging and haven't known?" Don asked.

"We could have started aging after you had Joshua." Will said. His voice had finally deepened, no longer high pitched, but a definite switch from child to teenager was easily decorating his face. "That is when he started aging."

"No. . ." Judy said while joining Don's side. "I started almost a year ago. Fetuses need to age to develop."

"Whatever is going on," Don said. "I like this."

"I haven't really felt like I was aging," Will said.

"We were easing into aging," Maureen said. "Slowly. As humans."

John's eyes lit up at the thought then he grinned.

"We'll start searching for them once get our uniforms adjusted." John said. 

"That won't take long," Maureen said.

"In the mean time, Don, how about we get out the chariot and do some surveys and see what has changed since left?" John asked. 

"I will get Debbie!" Penny charged into the ship. 

The Robinsons laughed then followed her back into the Jupiter 2. 

* * *

It was a day later did Will leave the Jupiter 2 in clothing that was more suited to his figure that had grown so suddenly and abruptly; a growth spurt. The Chariot was left behind in the Jupiter 2 as the men wandered the area following Will through places that Robot and he had searched for him after the event that started it all.

Will paused in his tracks spotting where the mall once had been.

It was overgrown by plants that claimed the soil and the area around it.

It brought him back to the last discussion that he had with the man before going into the mall.

And worry about the future of going in that direction should the grave be in that general direction.

* * *

_"It'll be fine, William." Smith said. "I will get Robot back. Then everything shall be fine for your family."_

_"Since coming into my universe, I have to say that isn't the case." Will said._

_"How are you sure that Mr Cackler won't notice you, Doctor Smith?" Penny asked._

_Smith grinned, folding his arms, then shook his head._

_"Look at the technicians, my dears." Smith gestured toward them. "All dressed in uniform. And they all look alike."_

_"But, they may have to take it off."Will pointed out._

_"Look at our friend," Smith pointed toward the distorted head that was partially wrapped by dark gray socks that were very long, belonging to Smith, covering most of their facial features. "They need that as a facial protector."_

_"But why?" Penny asked._

_"Reasons." Smith said. "Sometimes, beauty in the face of ugliness isn't appreciated by aliens here." he frowned, looking aside. "But it is the pretty kind of ugly that you can live alongside. Not a horrible nightmare."_

_Smith wrapped the fabric around his head then paused as if wondering what he had forgotten._

_"You forgot to get the goggles, Doctor Smith." Will said. "They see through fabric."_

_"My dears, find me the googles and hand them over." Smith said. "And go hide behind that tree after you find it. Will you?"_

_"Sure, Doctor Smith." the children replied.  
_

_Will and Penny searched around the area as the older man proceeded to stand there with his arms folded waiting patiently._

_"I found it, Doctor Smith!" Penny cried, holding up the goggles._

_"Bring it here, my dear child." Smith requested._

* * *

"I found it!" Don called.

"A marker." John joined his side as the major yanked out the vines as Will arrived.

"Doctor Zachary Smith." Will said, fondly. "Birth place; Earth. Cause of death; shot to the back."

There was a inscription below it reading; _most sorry. Z. S._

"Smith's handy work." Don said with one hand on his knee.

"Didn't really figure him for burying the dead behind my back." Will said, softly.

"We weren't going to move on so quickly and bury his belongings when he came," John reminded. "It's time we made sure that the last piece of him is gone."

Will put down the backpack and gently took out the collapsible shovel as the other men followed suit. With time and effort, they undug the makeshift graft. The small box was slowly revealed to the group in a little over a couple hours. Don knelt down then stretched his arm out and took out the box.

"Here it is." Don said. "What we have all been waiting for."

Don put the box on the ground.

"Looks like it hadn't been touched." Will said. "Not since it was buried."

John was the first to open the box and find that all of the man's belongings were neatly folded inside with a small letter.

_Do you want to play God just to say a proper goodbye and watch his body turn to dust, Professor?_

_Your choice._

_**Doctor** Zachary Smith. _

"Turn to dust just to say goodbye. . ." John said. "Makes sense why he made the machine." He paused as their eyes widened. "He made a resurrection machine!"

"We have to destroy that!" Don said. "If that is how many of the foes we faced cross paths with us came to life-who knows who else might want to use this opportunity."

"Will," John turned his attention upon Will. "Do you still remember where Smith's living space was? You found it one night when Smith was staying at Vikari's."

"Very well," Will replied.

"Bring us there." John got up to his feet then Don kicked the tombstone into the grave. "After we bury this marker."

* * *

The men returned for the Chariot then went inside of the ship and took out the explosive material before Maureen's eyes.

"Is everything alright, John?" Maureen asked.

John turned toward Maureen.

"No." John said. "Smith made a machine for us to say goodbye to our Smith. He intended for Robot to tell us after he left. And we're not going to do that."

"Just be careful, Professor Robinson." Maureen said. "Someone may be in the process of using it."

"I intend for them to never finish what they were doing." John said. "When someone is dead; they're dead."

"They are." Maureen said. "Go get it."

John grinned, broadly, then nodded.

"I will be back before you know it, darling." John said.

"We can wait on giving him the burial that he needs until you get back," Maureen said. "The girls and I will get the raft ready."

It was a quick peck on John's lips then Maureen walked on and John went inside going into the driver seat.

"Ready for your first mission as a young man, Will?" John looked toward Will, teasingly.

Will shook his head with a laugh and his arms folded.

"I am just edging there to being a teenager, dad." Will said.

"A few more inches and you will be taller than me!" Don said. "Hell of a thing."

"Let's go." John said.

And the Chariot drove off from the Jupiter 2 leaving the massive saucer behind. 

* * *

Don followed Will's directions to the cavern. It was John who parked the Chariot first as Will stared on toward the wide open cavern that had a steepened passageway leading into it as if it had been well traveled by crowds of people. Don was the first to get out with the laser pistol and some of the explosive equipment slipped in a large bag strapped on his shoulder. John came to his son's side then put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. A old woman came out of the tunnel holding a small bundle in her arms.

"Hello," Don said. "I am Don West."

"Hello." The mother was a older woman keeping her infant's head shielded from him.

"I am not going to hurt you." Don said. "We are just here to destroy the machine, Miss. . ."

"Gampu." Her face was familiar, her eyes, her eyebrows, her facial features, yet he couldn't pin point what exactly it was. "Mariza Gampu."

Mariza held a hand out and Don spotted a long scar that he had only seen from Bronius spreading down from the palm of her hand to her arm. _Coincidence_. 

"Good to meet you." Don smiled. "Did you do what you needed?"

"Just brought my baby back." Mariza said over the small crying of the infant. "My little Isaac."

Don smiled.

"Well," Don said. "Don't let us be in the way. Is there any other people left?"

"No," Mariza said. "It lost its crowds ten years ago."

"Thank you, Miss." Don said. "Have a good day."

Mariza smiled back at him then withdrew her hand and walked off as John and Will joined his sides. 

"Let's get that lab destroyed before anyone gets any bright ideas of playing God." John said.

John was the first to go into the lab along with the major and his son. Will looked about the cavern spotting carvings that the older man had made long ago left discarded on the natural made ledges. He paused, staring at a small glinting object left on the counter then withdrew it and stared at it in awe. It was his old pocket watch and a small piece of a tree bark with surprisingly few but poignant words: _Will. Sorry 4 pain_. Will dropped the watch as he felt a painful string in his heart being pulled.

He picked up a carving and spotted what appeared to be a carving of his mother. Will unzipped his pant pockets and slipped in the wood carvings until his pockets couldn't take no more. He looked, up gasping, then climbed up and reached out taking down two pieces of carvings that had a pebble glued on representing a helmet. He knelt down the carefully picked up the grandfather watch and turned it over. It read: _Smith_. Will ran out and caught up with Mariza.

"Mrs! Wait!"

"Yes?" Mariza turned toward Will.

"I think this will help you cover for your child's expenses." Will handed it over into her free hand. "It should give you a cozy place to live in for Isaac."

"It would." Mariza said then bowed her head. "Thank you. Good-bye."

"Good-bye." Will said. "Farewell." he watched as the last belonging of his friend be taken away then softly added, sadly, with his heart breaking finding himself in the position of letting go as his friend once had decades ago. And this time, this piece of Smith wasn't going to come back to him. Will felt sure of that. "My old friend."

" _Adieu_. . . " _And the memory of Smith, the older version, walking on from him and Robot with suitcase in tow vanished._

Will turned away then rejoined into the tunnel and set up the pieces of explosive around the room. He put the mobile explosive devices where they deserved to be put then stepped back as the men finished hiding their experimental destructive machines about the room. John took several one last inspection of the room checking for anything that didn't relate to the regeneration machine.

The cavern was wide and large but quite circular. Half of a rocking chair was buried in the ground as the planet had claimed it close by what appeared to be remains of a electronic fire pit that had became a crater over time. Will took one last look at the machine that was being consumed ever slowly with plants hanging around its sides. John put the last explosive within the machine then exited with the men getting further and further until making it to a safe distance with the Chariot.

John looked toward Will then nodded back at his direction.

Will turned the explosives on with several switches then pressed a button.

And the interior of the cavern was destroyed in a blazing inferno and eliminated five feet of dirt leaving it the same way that it had been before. It was single red flash of light at first then several others and sound of destruction, the ground trembling, and the sound of the explosive sonic boom exiting the cavern. John returned inside for a inspection then gazed around the area searching for remains of the machine.

John turned away then approached the duo.

"Everything is gone." John said. "It is over."

"Hey, dad." Will said. "Doctor Smith made these."

Will took out the wood carvings then handed them to John.

"We can paint these." John said. "Their weight wouldn't matter. Light-weight."

"What in the world is that carving? It's got Robot's helm, his chassis, but the lower half . . ." Don was bewildered staring down in shock and disgust at the carving. "What kind of undead machine is that?"

John looked over toward the major.

"A zombie," John said, in mirth.

"A Robot zombie." Don handed it back to Will. "Keep this. I will take the classic Robot any day."

"I will take Robot in any form that he is." Will said

"And so would I." John grinned then the trio laughed laughed. "It's a long way back to the Jupiter 2. Let's get it started."

Will took one last glance at the tunnel then nodded and followed after the men already getting into their seats.

* * *

The family gathered at the beach that afternoon.

"Are you ready, Will?" John put a hand on his son's shoulder.

Will looked up toward John then nodded with a smile.

"I can do this." Will said.

John took his hand back from his son then watched him walk forward into the water then slide the raft forward. The vaporizer turned on once Will had rejoined his family then turned toward the distant sea. Penny took Will's hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked up toward her as the sun set over the horizon then smiled. He turned his attention back on to the sea then watched as the center of the wooden raft burned.

They watched in silence as the vaporizer worked on the wood. The flames traveled on lone pieces of log on to another log and it spread similar to fire. It burned it to a crisp but took longer for the claw to melt into pieces inside the small box below the raft. The Robinsons watched in silence and in sorrow as the last pieces of the past that they once had burned away. The vaporizer deactivated then the box was released into the abyss of darkness.

"At least, they are together forever and got each other to spend it with." Penny said.

Maureen smiled back looking down toward the young girl then they silently returned to the Chariot leaving only Will alone.

Will sighed, heartbroken, sadly.

_I want my best friend back._

"We are ready to go home, son." John called back.

Will turned away then walked after the Chariot.


	13. Chapter 13

Will felt older as he approached the landmass where Vikari's carnival once had been a long time ago. This time, two of his close and best friends were not on the same plane as he was. He didn't feel like a child. He felt like a young man coming back to his old stomping grounds. He had spent sometime there visiting Smith between his painting hour wearing a mask when Vikari was not around.

Will could see the rides back where they were in his mind and visualize them.

It seemed so real in his imagination that he could touch it and feel it when it wasn't there.

He smiled at the memory of seeing his younger but still a old friend on a swing set painting on the side of the ride.

Will can see the multi queen Nile ride from before as the older man look down toward him then grin.

_"Ah, William, my dear boy! What brings you here?"_

_"Just checking on what you are doing, Doctor Smith."  
_

_"Painting as I told you earlier."_

_"Yes, but why are you doing that all day and not eating?"_

_"I have been busy. This is very time consuming work, William. Must be extremely focused. Families will be making memories here and if they make fond memories, well then, this place will be hiiigghhhhllly recommended!" he pointed a finger up toward the sky. "It helps to pay complete attention to a very important project."_

_"Is it that important to you?" Will asked, sliding his hands into his unzipped pockets._

_"Indeed!" Smith said with a raise of his brows. "And I am being very well employed."_

_"Employed?" Will asked. "I hope you know that carnivals don't stick around in one place, Doctor Smith."_

_"This carnival job is a one time errand," Smith said. "And I know. I know."_

_"What got your attention?" Will asked. "To work here."_

_"The thought of bringing your family certain happiness in this long and grueling journey to Alpha Centauri." Smith replied with a sly smile. "Some good must come in the dark. Now, shall it?"_

_Will thought it over then shrugged it off._

_"Yes," Will agreed. "Some good can come out in the dark." With a nod. "Can I help?"_

_"Ah, yes." Smith replied looking down upon him. "I have the breather masks in the basket and several paint brushes."_

_"What do I paint?" Will asked._

_"You can paint the stripes." he gestured across from him then directed the boy to a pulley contraption that was part of the pile. "I haven't gotten down to it!"_

_Will tossed the first piece of the contraption up then Smith set it up for him and tugged it down._

_"Be careful." Smith warned. "Or you shall lose all the paint."_

_"I will, Doctor Smith." Will replied._

_"Excellent!" Smith cheered._

The space where Smith once occupied was replaced by the blue sky, the signs of mountains, and the cloudy sky. Will looked up toward the sky then looked aside with a sigh. And he felt alone. It was different when Smith was there despite keeping his distance. A intriguing character that brought spice into his life, someone he ran for instead of letting him get the distance. Penny joined his side then put a hand on his shoulder. He drifted his attention back toward her with a small smile.

Silently, they walked away from the territory that had spawned memories of warmth and entertainment. These memories were taped over the memories of the fun house making it all seem that a witnessed and lived through terrible nightmare hadn't lasted quite long at all. And the large hole that the fun house had collapsed into had remained. Except, it had quite grown.

* * *

They walked the path that Will had gone long ago to fetch the older man to find the spacecraft was halfway submerged into the ground with only the doorway standing out as it had turned into a small hill. The side of the doorway was rusted and in badly need of repairs. It's once bright color had faded with time. It was even more evidence that time had passed. 

Will pressed a button then the door slid open to reveal the untouched cabin that had once belonged to the older Smith.

"So empty." Penny noted as she and Will got inside then wandered around.

"Yeah." Was all Penny got.

"Only that strange berth." Penny said.

"Hm. Strange."

"So clean and empty," Penny said. "Like he never lived in here."

"But he did." Will said. "He is not a ghost."

"He operated like one in his last couple bases of operations." Penny said. "The tunnel aside; it's like he decided to stop. . ."

"Leaving signs that he was there." Will said.

"It's like Doctor Smith's cabin," Penny said. "No small trinkets just articles of his clothing."

"I wonder." Will said out loud. "How that felt to return to that life style? Making that decision."

"It must have been agonizing." Penny said. "The life style of a spy."

"Leaving nothing behind that he existed." Will said.

"But, he did leave things behind." Penny said.

"Such what?" Will asked.

"Us." Penny said. "We are living proof that he existed. We are big things, Will. Not small, not crumbs, not insects. We're significant to him. And that is what he left behind in all those places."

Will snickered to himself as a small smile grew on his face.

"You're right about that." Will said. "It does make me feel a lot better on that note."

"What are going to do about that berth?" Penny asked. 

"We should leave it alone and close the door." Will said. "If Doctor Smith never came back for it then there must be a good enough reason."

Penny frowned looking upon the berth. 

"A good decent bed for his back." Penny shook her head. "This is something he didn't associate with himself."

"Just a part of the apartment." Will said. "A really bad apartment."

The siblings walked out of the craft then walked on. 

"Will, how about we check on his sculpture?" Penny asked. "Surely, there must be something of that remaining."

"A forgery," Will said. "Let's check on it."

Penny and Will walked away from the craft leaving it to be forgotten.

* * *

Will and Penny sprinted back to the area that they had recalled with minor difficulty retracing their steps. The area had into a thoroughly traveled and tall valley with landmarks that had once been nondescript rock formations changed into sculptures of creatures and coated in layers of paint that hadn't gone away. Will looked at the sculpture with widened eyes in regards to how time had treated them and balanced the artwork on top of each other. What had been boulders at first had been in reality tall rock barriers.

"And this is where Queen Madulla of the Kavalarian civilization decided to call her art show," elaborated the royal tour guide. "She drew inspiration from the ancient civilization that had once lurked here and decided to celebrate the art of the past and the future of the monarchy that has been thriving for the last one thousand forty-three years with only one person reigning it unimpeded by time."

"Sir, that isn't from a ancient civilization." Will said.

Everyone's attention shifted from the royal tour guide to Will.

"Well, what is it?" asked one of the more taller members.

"Doctor Smith made it." Will said. "That doorway you see over there?"

Everyone looked toward the temple doorway.

"That was done all for show." Will said. "He did it because he was bored."

"And why the upper half is the only part of it that has paint." Penny said.

"And where is Doctor Smith right now?" the royal tour guide asked.

"He died awhile ago helping us out of our mess," Penny said then pointed toward the carvings. "Those were made by his counterpart. His younger self."

"Penny!" Will said.

"He isn't around anymore and we have to tell the truth," Penny said. "He is safe now. He is back where he belongs."

"He is where---now?" The royal tour guide asked.

"Back where he belongs." Penny repeated. "Even if he could come back . . ."

"He would bring his continuity's darkness with him." Will said. "If he has lost the hope that we have given him."

"What do you mean by; he is in a place with no hope?" the royal tour guide asked, puzzled.

"It is dark there." Penny said. "His planet has died and no one knew it except the powerful and they kept the secret that it was dying, they spread misinformation, lobbied against it, and kept killing their planet until it became apparent that it was in the middle of its death throes. By then, it couldn't be saved. They could only mitigate its impact. And they had to get off world."

"Problem was, they suppressed the truth," Will said. "They touted Alpha Prime as a planet for colonization. Not as Humanity's second chance and no one really knew they were doomed to die by their own home."

"Except for environmental advocates." Penny said. "People who learned the truth and wanted to give humanity a second chance with the facts on the table."

"That is a truly dark place to be." spoke up one of the customers.

"It is." Will closed his eyes with a shake of his head then reopened them. "Whatever business that Madulla has with him, it is just not worth going after for all that."

"Going there; her desire of conquering the galaxy would be hopeless," Penny said. "Someone else has that nice and tight."

"Care to tell us the rest of the other sculpture?" one of the customers asked.

"We can do that," Will said with a grin.

"We love to!" Penny said as a smile replaced her unhappy demeanor.

"What is not . . ." the royal tour guide pointed toward a tall pillar that had been chipped away into the figure of a horse. "Forgeries?"

"Forgery." Will said. "He had a lot of time on his hands and claws so I am sure there is hundreds of them. That must have been a lot of erosion going down here. This way, I can lead you to the one where Doctor Smith tried making a large boulder into a Aztec cavern."

"It has to be a pillar by now." Penny said then she and Will laughed leading the crowd away.

The Royal Tour Guide sped over to a large machine then took out a large device and tapped on it.

"Royal Tour Guide to Queen Madulla!"

"Madulla here." Madulla's face appeared in a orange glow then frowned. "What is it?"

"I have gained some information about Doctor Smith."

"Where is he?"

"Not here."

"Where?"

"The Earth man that you seek has returned to where he originated from."

"Earth."

"Not Earth."

"But he came from Earth."

"He is _not_ from this universe." The royal tour guide said. "He is from the anti-matter world. A version of it without hope."

Madulla was silent for a single moment as everything fell into piece and her eyes widened at the bombshell then returned to their normal size.

"Not here. If he has returned home then he may have destroyed the method of getting here." Madulla mused. "Thank you for this information." her attention returned to him then nodded toward him with icy eyes. "You will be rewarded: handsomely."

Madulla smiled.

"Madulla out."

And the orb returned to its gray aesthetic.


	14. Chapter 14

It was in the middle of the night a month in being back on Tekuchi Seven when Don awoke abruptly, sitting on the edge of the queen sized bed, looking down toward his hands. His hands were aging just as he were. And that felt quite strange to know that fact. He rubbed his hands as a smile began to grow on his face. If time was passing once more, then why? Why start after Smith had been taken away by the Destructon prison guards? He frowned at the question. It was a question that eluded the lieutenant colonel. None of it made sense.

Don slipped into bed alongside Judy. He remembered a time where the bed was a single long and wide plank. Before they heavily modified it from the singular cot appearance with hours of mining and gaining aid from the people on Tremfya on making the modifications to the bed frame in getting the right model for it. He remembered how it used to be, sleeping apart from Judy, in his bed. He remembered before the first expansion of the Jupiter and mining for hours to add in the guest deck. They had forced the doctor to participate in the effort centuries ago.

Don was stirred out of his nostalgic thoughts by a loud and heart yanking boom that echoed through the ship. He was out of the bed in mere moments notice with his navy green night robe. There was silence that hung in the ship as everyone was still and shocked blinking in the unexpected familiar sound that hung in the air. Don came out with his laser pistol and was met by the scent of burning flesh, the smell of burning clothes, and burnt food that lingered in the air.

His eyes caught the sight of a burned galley with dying flames eating away the food that was scattered on the table. The table was covered in scorch marks similar to how Judy's room was covered in it. The panels by the side of the galley was burning and sizzling with smoke drifting off it. The food processing units were damaged with grain, dried fruit, and recipe ingredients falling out of his. His eyes went over the black chairs toward a fallen figure laid on the floor breathing and in pain but unconscious. It was their Smith, alive, and injured.

The man's hands and face were covered in dark burns that were beginning to cool off with steam. His graying hair was burning before his eyes. The sleeves of his uniform was tattered and singed. Don was paralyzed at first, taken back, then began to cross the distance. Abruptly, the damage and the wounded Smith vanished before his eyes replaced by the intact kitchen. John was the first to appear by his side.

"Don, you look like you have seen a ghost." John said.

Don turned his head toward John.

"I have." Don said.

"What was that?" Penny asked. "I heard a explosion."

". . . It was a echo." Don said.

"What was that?" John asked.

"That was a explosion." Judy crept out of the shared bedroom holding on to a crying Joshua in her arms. "I know it was." she looked in. "Where is the ruins?"

"I don't know." Don replied as Maureen and Will exited their cabins joining the crowded family.

"What did you see, Don?" John asked as Maureen pressed a button and the lights turned on in the residential deck. Maureen looked in the direction that Don's freaked out eyes were fixated on. "You look spooked."

"I saw Smith on the floor with Judy's burns," Don pointed toward the galley with a slow nod and a small gulp. "Everything was on fire. The lights were on. And no one was there."

"Yes, there was." Will said. "There had to be. Doctor Smith is hardly alone when on the Jupiter 2."

"That was a time spatial anomaly." John acknowledged. "A very brief one."

"It wasn't brief," Don said. "It was long and. . . I didn't have the guts to approach him."

"You had the guts to assess the situation." John said. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"All of us would have done the same if we had seen Doctor Smith alive and hurt." Maureen said.

One by one as Joshua's cries began to stop, each of the Robinsons nodded, as Will's eyes were resting on the space that Don had pointed in.

"John, I don't like this. What if we are having a time spatial anomaly storm?" Don asked. "What if it is going to get _worse_?"

Maureen and John exchanged a uneasy glance then faced the pilot.

"Then we have to empty the Jupiter 2 and make our departure early for Alpha Centauri," John said. "Starting tomorrow morning when we are all awake and clear headed to leave."

"Why not now, daddy?" Penny asked.

"Right now, we are very frightened of the next unexpected temporal anomaly." John said. "We are not going to let our fear dictate what we do in the next five minutes."

"This is not the first time we have experienced one, John." Maureen reminded. "Only for this kind of activity is gravely concerning."

"Nor is it informing us of something that can happen later." Don said. "This is just like. . ."

"Like what?" John asked.

"The make up incident," Don replied. "Only that it happened differently."

"What do you mean?" Maureen asked.

Don's gaze was back on the galley.

"There was so much remains of food and turkey all over the place that it was like looking into a bombed in Thanksgiving dinner."

The Robinsons were genuinely horrified as it sunk into their minds of the imagery and it was silent.

"Doctor Smith bought food instead of a bed of needles." Will said. "Dad, can I stand watch on Doctor Smith's cabin? If he is hurt and it reappears, I like to be there."

"Don't walk in." John said. "Once you go in, you may be unable to get out."

"I will be careful, dad." Will said.

"Let's empty the Jupiter 2 of the non-essentials within the hour," John said. "We can make our departure in the morning after breakfast."

The family nodded then began to empty the Jupiter 2 of the non-essential materials and Will hung closely around the archway that lead to Smith's cabin waiting for the anomaly to return. He leaned against the archway and folded his arms looking on. He slid the small bed down then exited returning to the archway and waited through the night waiting for the anomaly to return. And yet, he had a distinct feeling that it wasn't going to happen on his way. Regardless, Will took the chance, the hope, the thought, and waited.

Unexpectedly, Maureen put a hand on his shoulder.

"Will," Maureen said. "I expect you to catch up some zzz's in the morning."

"I will, mom." Will said looking up toward her with a nod. "See you in the morning."

"If he appears," Maureen said. "Tell me how he is."

"I will." Will replied with a nod.

"I like to know how he is doing without us." Maureen said.

Maureen smiled then walked back off into the master stateroom and John nodded back toward Will.

"Good night, Will." John said.

"Night." Will looked on then watched his father return into the stateroom and his attention returned to the stateroom.

Silence echoed through the ship.

* * *

John was the first of the family to awaken then come out of the master stateroom. He approached the young boy staring on toward the empty stateroom with his hazel eyes focused on the open bed. A soft, "Hey," drew the young boy's attention then he rubbed his eye and looked up toward his father, tiredly.

"Anything so far?" John asked.

"No." Will shook his head.

"Take a nap, Will." John ordered.

"Okay." Will said.

Will left the station returning to his stateroom then the professor looked on toward the stateroom then lowered his gaze aside, regretfully. John went inside of the stateroom then slid the bed back up into the wall. He walked away then turned toward the interior of the room.He scanned it, feeling a strange feeling overcome him. It was empty. It _felt_ empty.

For the last few centuries in space, it felt occupied. And now, there was no more presence filling it. John _noticed_ it. It was odd, being empty, feeling that way after entering it after a month. A room that lacked any form of life or warmth. The strangeness of the room was bothersome.

And now, John could never speak to Smith for the way things had unfolded despite feeling ready to say those three words. Three little words that would be returned by the older man's dismissal of there being any foul or harm when there had been. Even going on to mention that neither of them was aware of what was really going on. John smiled, wistfully, then closed the door behind him.

He was picking up a cup of coffee off the galley table when he heard a familiar snore from behind. His eyes met with Maureen's then they both raced for the cabin and it was Maureen who slid the door open with racing but alarmed hearts. The time spatial anomaly was over. And the room was very empty. Maureen slowly close the door then shifted her attention up toward John. They returned to the galley, John took a long sip from the cup then went into the bathroom taking along his adjusted spacesuit.

Later, they told everyone after breakfast.

And it was sour knowing they had missed him a second time.

* * *

"How did it feel to be on memory lane, Maureen?" John asked.

Maureen smiled, turning her head toward him, aging well as he was.

"It was nice to see what we had left behind and how it changed." Maureen said, then her fingers covered by the space suit gloves were interlaced with his own hands and gave it a small yet gentle squeeze. "That art show was fun to see."

Maureen let go then returned into the ship.

John took one last look at Tekuchi Seven then boarded the ship.

The Jupiter 2's landing legs retracted inside then with a sharp wail from the engines the ship flew off to the heavens.


	15. Chapter 15

"Keep a eye out for the space deer," John reminded. "We don't want a rerun of that."

"Me neither." Will replied.

"We'll keep a eye out for the space deer, daddy." Penny assured.

John grinned, broadly, then went into his cabin to retire for the night joining their mother. Penny and will went into the elevator car then will pressed the up button. The elevator rolled up as will grasped the barrier of the car looking aside, miserable. The elevator rolled to the bridge then rolled to a stop. Penny rolled the barrier aside and walked on ahead of grabbed Penny by the arm then paused and gestured on. Figures were appearing and disappearing before their eyes.

"Well." came a young deep voice that sounded of someone a year older than Will. "What do we do?"

The source of the voice became apparent and his companion became solidified bobbing up his transparent helm with orange lights and his antenna sensors spun.

"Danger, Will Robinson." Robot said. " _Danger_!"

"Robot!" Will shouted then ran after the robot with a grin then Penny followed behind him.

Will was not a hundred feet away when Robot and his companion vanished then he came to a halt staring off toward the view screen five feet away from the conn. Penny joined his side then put a hand on his shoulder. He faced her with tears in his eyes full of anguish shaking his head. Silently, she was the one to start the hug and Will cried. She looked toward the conn reflectively. The time spatial anomaly had brought a cruel form of agony to her family. The cruel kind in the which they could see two members of their own and be unable to make them rejoin.

* * *

It was a full shift later did Maureen and Don come up for their role in the navigation observation. John was busy making dinner for the family down stairs setting in the necessary ingredients into the crock pot with Judy's help. Penny and Will explained what had happened with little fanfare about what had happened after that. Little notes asides to asteroids passing by them according to the radar and staring on toward the view screen with the same view ahead of them.

"Is that what happened, Penny?" Maureen asked.

"Yes," Penny said.

Will was quiet compared to his sister.

"Penny, thank you for bringing this to my attention." John's eyes shifted toward his son. "Will. . ."

"I am okay, mom." Will said.

"You're welcome." Penny said. "Will, want to play chess?"

"Sure," Will said then they walked off.

Maureen and Don exchanged a glance.

"It is not just the planet." Maureen said. "It is the Jupiter 2."

"What else is going to happen?" Don asked. "It is like. . . it is as if. . . Someone used a time fluxator and it is making the entire ship phase through time."

"Like the multiphasic barrier doesn't exist between our worlds." Maureen said.

"Yeah," Don said. "And it is really doing a number on making us be helpless."

"Not helpless, Don." Maureen said. "Hurt. I will get John."

Maureen went to the lower deck through the doorway then Don sensed that he were not a lone. He turned in the direction of the conn finding it shrunk. It was the exact way it had been when Smith entered their lives as a younger man but quite different and even more stranger than before. He was paralyzed where he sat noticing what appeared to be himself, but younger. Twenty-three, sitting alongside a man who bore a stark resemblance to John with features that were different, subtle, yet uncannily familiar in every way.

_"Why would someone abandon a craft like this in the middle of a barren planet, Colonel Robinson?"_

_"Her crew may have had no choice, Major West."_

_"I never seen consoles like these before. Makes the Jupiter 2 pod more advanced by several miles."_

_The older man grinned, broadly, facing the younger man._

_"We're from the tail end of the 21st century. It was advanced with touch screens and remote control for every function."_

_"Least we don't need to float like a leaf to a planet."_

_The younger man paused then frowned, unsure, facing the older man._

_". . . Does this need to float down?"_

Don stared, with a occasional blink, as the anomaly was happening before his eyes.

_"We'll answer it as soon as we learn how to fly this disaster and what every function of it does."_

The men laughed then the anomaly was over. It was replaced by the two empty chairs facing a moon that the Jupiter 2 was cruising past. Don's mind jumped, _moon?_ There wasn't a moon in the view screen last he checked. Judy's started gasp made him turn toward her as the woman got up from her chair bolting toward him.

"Don!" Judy came toward Don and John got up from the passenger seat with widened eyes. "Where have you been?"

"Right here." Don said as he noted the concern on her features.

"You have been gone for days." Judy said.

"What happened?" John asked. "We have searched from top to bottom for you."

"It was like I was a ghost looking in on to another time." Don said. "I. . . I . . . It was odd. I saw; me. But, I was younger and I saw you, but . . ."

"But, what?"

"You were a colonel instead of a professor and you looked a little different." Don said.

"Don, go down to the lower decks and have some rest," John said. "You haven't been in the best place for the last two weeks."

"Two weeks!" Don said. "I have been gone for two weeks because of seeing something that happened for a few minutes?"

"Yes." John said. "The time spatial anomaly ended right after you left. Turned out that we were in the middle of the heart of it. We were in a anomaly storm of some kind according to the cosmic weather instruments."

Don turned away then went willingly with Judy to the elevator car.

"I was in a storm for two weeks! Two weeks! And I didn't get time sick not once! If you call seeing myself fresh as a cadet, yes, then maybe a little sick." Don said. "I _need_ that rest!"

Judy laughed as John faced the window of the ship and sat down in the pilot's chair then they went into the elevator car that rolled down.

* * *

The flight resumed with little to no time spatial anomalys. They spent a month in space traveling for the next solar system. The constellations were familiar to the Robinsons crawling back the way they had came on a road trip back to Alpha Centauri. The Robinsons held their breath as the familiar solar system came up with a fairly familiar number of planets.

"Hey." Don said. "We have been here before."

"Hm?" John said.

"There is several moonmoons orbiting that planet. It is the one planet that has this large asteroid orbiting it and a facility covered in solar panels that shine." Don said. "It is the only way I remember this solar system asides to the fact that. . ."

"That what, Don?"

"This is the solar system where you almost exiled Smith for good."

"We need to lay down and get some more fuel for the trip back." John said. "We are nearly out."

"Go down and tell the family that we will be landing in about half a hour we are landing." Don said. "Yourself." Then he added in mirth. "Colonel."

"Mayor." John replied. "Not a soldier."

"Or a professor?" Don asked.

"That is in the past." John said. "Like you being a major."

"You're always going to be a professor to me, John." Don said.

John smiled, snickering, at the sentiment.

"I find that a very good thing to think about on odd nights." John got up from the chair then went down to the lower decks.

* * *

Judy looked toward the planet as it got closer with each passing day . Joshua was in her arms some of the day looking out the view of space. He wasn't going to spend his life in space knowing it was the only thing he was guaranteed to see from day in to day out, that part comforted Judy. The ship lowered down to the planet with every member of the Robinsons in their chairs including the newest member in a booster seat. The ship shook with the landing then everyone had a sigh of relief for a landing that was safe.

The Robinsons got out of their chairs then bolted down the steps once the door to the ship was open. Judy unbuckled the boy out of his booster seat then heard rolling from across. She looked up watching the elevator car slide down carrying a familiar passenger. Her eyes widened then she began to grin, tearfully, spotting a figure that she had seen only once a long time ago. The elevator car rolled down as she stood still staring toward the familiar figure.

It was Smith, the version native to this world, slowly walking toward the residential deck door. His steps were small as if on a path that he didn't wish to go on. His head was lowered toward the floor in defeat. He came to the exit, pressed the button, then looked around with his hands clasped in his lap. The door opened with a mechanical sound. His face was covered in facial burns peppering his face with a face of sorrow.

He scanned the area, regretfully, heartbroken taking one last look of the ship. He was in a gray jumpsuit over his normal uniform. Except, instead of purple and green as secondary colors; it was bright red and dark blue.

"I am sorr-ee." Were words that came and his shoulders sulked even more then he regretfully shook his head with his eyes squeezed shut. He opened his eyes then looked back in the direction of the comfort chairs then bitterly but sadly finished, "I should have never ran away."

He turned away then descended down the stairs.

"Doctor Smith!" Judy cried, beginning to reach her hand out.

Judy ran after him only to pause at the front doorway spotting her family looking around observing, taking in breaths, and enjoying the weather.

"Are you okay, Judy?" Don asked

Everyone faced Judy noticing how paled that she was with a notable tremble.

"He apologized for leaving then left." Judy began. "And he had all those burns." She began to sob, her head falling into her hands, heartbroken as Don came up the stairs then joined her side. "All those burns." as she began to cry. "And I tried to stop him."

"Honey," Don said. "Hug?"

"I like one." Judy said. "I really like one."

Don grasped her into a hug as she began to cry. One by one, each member of the expedition group came back inside the Jupiter 2 then fell into a warm and comforting group hug around Judy.


	16. Chapter 16

John stood at the entrance of the cavern that was decorated in equipment that were repaired. Maureen's face faltered at the repaired facility as she clenched on to the side of John's arm. John took her hand as he was pained to see it repaired and ready to be used. The Robinsons were silenced by the ready to be used lab. The tranquil fury coming from the professor was felt by the other members of the Robinsons. The professor turned his attention upon the pilot.

"Don, did you pack the vaporizers?" John asked.

Don was staring in as he was visualizing history happening.

"I did." Don said.

"Everyone, return to the Chariot and get the equipment to destroy this lab." John said.

"Will do." Maureen said.

The women and Don were the first to leave while Will looked on.

"It is for the best, Will." John said.

"I know it is." Will said.

"Then why do you look so unhappy?" John asked.

"I wish he had died in that sword fight with the Space Destructors." Will said. "From his mistake. Not ours." A tear came down then he wiped it off even the falling other tears with his maroon red sleeve. "It wouldn't be hurting as much."

"It would have hurt _more_ , Will." John put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It happened just as it should have."

Will sniffled then gulped down the feelings for the moment from the feeling of loss.

"We couldn't have lost him easily." Will said as he turned away from the entrance of the cavern. "I know that now."

Then Will walked on for the Chariot taking several steps away from his grim father -- who's gaze was fixated on the lab --.

"I have always known." John looked back inside as he made the comment, warily, then followed after his family.

"Will," Maureen said, once Will joined her side. "I agree. It wouldn't be as painful for us.l"

Maureen put a hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed it then Will looked up toward her.

"Thanks for the sentiment, mom." Will said.

Maureen smiled then handed down a large luggage of vaporizers into the boy's arms.

"Take it, carefully." Maureen warned. "It is pretty heavy."

"I can do it!" Will said. "I got the muscles for it! Been lifting the weights just for this purpose."

"Your muscles are very admirable." Maureen said.

"Very!" Will nodded with a grin then walked toward the cavern carrying the heavy load in his arms and Maureen snickered fondly.

The Robinsons returned inside the cavern then decorated the area in the large, old fashioned, bulky vaporizers and exited the cavern once done.

"Ready?" John asked his family.

"We are ready." Maureen said with a nod that was followed by the other members of the family.

"Flip the switch, father." Judy said. "We are waiting with anticipation!"

"It is killing me, daddy." Penny said.

John flipped the switches. The first charge of vaporizer made a small section of the lab vanish with a tremble and a flare. The second charge did the same making the cavern rock and pieces of the tunnel to fall down. The third charge destroyed the side massive computer then the fourth one destroyed the well aging cell. The fourth charge destroyed the barracks in a powerful blast. The rest of the vaporizers destroyed the entire lab then the ceiling gave out and it was as if it never existed at all. The Robinsons turned away then walked on from the lab.

"Where to, next?" Don asked.

"Let's do some surveys." John said. "We didn't quite stay here long last time."

"I can do with that." Will said with a smile.

"Me too," Penny nodded.

"Us two," Judy said, cradling the young member of the family.

"Me five," Maureen said.

"And me." Don said. 

With renewed and better moods, the family boarded the Chariot and it rolled away from the collapsed cavern. Will looked on toward the window of the Chariot alongside him looking on toward the path that had once been taken by him and Smith. He started to find himself wishing that a time spatial anomaly would open up right about and let Will have his second chance with his two friends.

But, it didn't open up for the next two weeks.


	17. Chapter 17

"Mom, dad, I am going on a walk." Will announced.

"Come back before your bed time." Maureen said.

"Laser pistol on you?" John asked.

"Yes, sir." Will said with a nod. "On me at all times."

"Be careful where you step," Maureen warned. "Cosmic sand pit might in the way."

"I will. See you later." Will turned away then walked on holding on to his flashlight and had a grip on his laser pistol walking on into the night.

Maureen looked on. 

"I miss Robot." Maureen admitted.

"Me too." John said. "Will wouldn't be going with a laser pistol if he were still alive."

"Because he was the laser pistol." Maureen said.

"Are you ready for that stargazing, Doctor Robinson?" John asked. 

"Ready as I have always been, _mayor_ Robinson." Maureen replied warmly with a laugh facing the professor. "Penny, did you get the stargazing basket packed?"

"Yes, mommy." Penny said.

"Then we're all set to to go." John said. "And Joshua?"

"Joshua is all packed in the Chariot with Judy's breast milk." Penny replied. 

"Settled then." John said. "Don and Judy get to have the Jupiter 2 to themselves."

"For the first time since the Kavalarians entered our lives." Maureen said. "I have complete faith that it won't happen a third time."

"So do I." John replied. "Penny, get to the Chariot. We will be right after you."

"Sure, daddy." Penny walked back to the Chariot then John unexpectedly planted a kiss on Maureen's cheek and followed her.

Maureen smiled, putting a hand on the side of her cheek, then chuckled and walked after her husband. She joined John's side in the Chariot, buckled up, then Penny closed the side door. The Chariot rolled away from the Jupiter going further into the dark leaving the beacon of light behind. The inside of the Jupiter 2 blended in among the dark as it rolled through the natural barren hills leaving the Jupiter 2 behind as it had done once before decades ago in the daybreak for a rock climb.

* * *

Don and Judy spent a few hours star gazing on the roof of the Jupiter 2 with head gears beneath their heads that comforted their neck during the observation. It was quiet underneath the stars. Stars that were travel destinations and familiar friends. Once strangers, now very familiar. Their hands were interlaced with each other as they pointed out star systems at a time. They burst into fond chuckles then stopped laughing at once and sighed. They lifted up from their perch looking on. Judy leaned against Don's shoulder and sighed.

Don smiled then looked down beside his life partner then he gazed upon her. The brightly shining diamond of his life. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They sat there for thirty minutes until the sound of small soft laser firing in the distance caused Judy to bolt halfway awake and stare on. Don got up to his feet then looked down toward the valley of rocky towers ahead of them. Don took out his laser pistol then froze at the sound of a familiar shriek.

Judy bolted down the recently installed stairs to the craft then landed with a thud and adjusted her long locks of hair into a pony tail with a few hand swift movements that had became familiar to her over the passing centuries searching for Alpha Centauri. She stood up on a boulder then aimed and fired at strange humanoid beings with half of their faces painted in a long painted shape on the right side of their face.

She fired warning shots sending the attackers fleeing in the dark and some returned fire. A loud and abrupt sting caused Judy to yelp. She stumbled back and rubbed at her jaw. She charged right back with renewed rage and fired at them. Don covered her then she looked over spotting three fallen figures on the ground without paint on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Don asked.

"Doctor Smith is here!" Judy said.

"What?" Don was stumbled.

"He is over there!" She pointed on.

"I hope you're not---" Don's eyes widened as he looked in the direction that she pointed in. "Judy, get him before it's too late. I will cover you."

Judy nodded then slipped her laser pistol into the belt then lowered herself down as Don covered over her with his return fire.

"Ryai-um . . . ryai-um. . . ryai-um . . ." Groaned the familiar figure then his bright blue eyes flashed open with panic, fear, uncertainty. "Is he okay? Are Ry-anne and Val-tor-ium okay?"

"Just breathe, breathe." Judy said, soothingly, over the whimpering older man. "Easy, easy there. It's okay. Ssssh."

The older man smiled, weakly, then relaxed and fainted. Judy frantically felt for a pulse then relaxed. She looked on toward his companions. These people were important to him so she had to share the same kindness to them. Judy walked past the older man then lifted the younger man by the shoulder. His arm was draped over her shoulder as she carried his weight away from the firefight. 

Don looked over watching as he was exchanging fire with the enemy combatant. She returned then grasped the other companion then carefully dropped him in front of the Jupiter 2 in the second seat. Don lowered his laser pistol them joined Judy's side and they helped the older man into the chair where he slumped and rested. The duo took turns lifting the men down to the lower decks. Moments later, the scarred scenery of clustered rock towers changed replaced by a natural path way leading to the Jupiter 2 with the Chariot rolling on toward the craft.

Judy arrived to the front door, panting, with one hand on her laser pistol. She took her hand off once seeing her mother be helped out of the Chariot then run toward her.

"Mother!" Judy's defenses lowered then she, too, began to lower caution.

Judy and Maureen shared a hug with the young woman clinging to her mother's figure with silent happy tears coming down her skin.

"Did something wrong happen?" Maureen asked.

The hug broke off then Maureen looked at her daughter, questioningly.

"Something good happened, mother." Judy squeezed her mother's hands as John was handed Joshua by Penny. 

Judy took Maureen by the hand then guided her down to the decks and Don passed back up the decks heading to the conn. The women were followed by Penny behind them then came into the residential deck and Don filled in what had happened only moments ago. The men retreated into the ship then turned the forcefield on with the Chariot parked closer to the Jupiter 2.

Maureen was shown the first two visitors with Judy being silent but smiling from ear to ear in a way that Maureen paid little attention to the burned top. Judy slid open the door to Smith's stateroom then Maureen stared with a small notable gasp turning her attention on to her. Then she lowered her attention on to her uniform. There was little to say, except, a smile. It didn't need to be communicated but the injuries on the men told the story and the one worn by the woman equally told one as well.

Maureen smiled, putting a hand on Judy's shoulder.

"Good job, Judy." Maureen said. "Very good fast thinking."

Penny joined them then peered in and her eyes widened. 

"Penny, get the medical kits out and the clothing synthesizer." Judy said.

"Will do." Penny slipped away from them.

"We are not going to play favoritism." Maureen said. "We start with the first person that was brought into the ship."

"It is the first person that I showed you, mother." Judy said. 

Maureen walked on past the older man's stateroom and went into the guest stateroom and opened it observing the resting young man.

"This should be easy." Maureen said. "Judy, you get the second wounded. And measure your patient. And treat your wound."

"What wound?" Judy asked.

"You have a nasty laser burn alongside your mouth." Maureen said.

Judy tapped along the right side of her lip then winced.

"Ow." Judy said.

"Thankfully, we have a little antibiotics left over for that." Maureen said.

"Wounded must treat the wounded." Judy said with a small laugh.

"So it seems." Maureen said.

The men peered in Smith's stateroom then began to grin as the women began to treat the wounded and set about the pieces to the coming day.

* * *

Maureen finished tending to the older man's wounds with biodegradable stitches and gauze that wrapped his chest wounds. She left out a set of clothing on the table for the older man that was of a familiar color scheme with one minor difference, it was a similar color scheme to how Judy had seen him in. His old damaged two piece uniform was partially unstripped leaving him in his trousers with a partially covered hairy chest. Maureen left his stateroom then smiled once approaching the girls.

"He will be awake in the morning." Maureen said. "Penny, get Will."

Judy looked on into the stateroom of the resting older man then slid it close as Penny ran off.

"Good night," Maureen said.

"Good night, mother." Judy said.

Maureen went to the master stateroom and closed the do or behind her.

* * *

Will strolled through the environment on a lone walk hopping from one boulder to the next that lifted his spirits and laughed. He made a pattern with the leaping landing to the surface of each boulder then made his final landing to the ground. He fell, landing to the ground, then laughed with a trembling figure. He leaned his back against the rock then sighed and ceased to laugh. He looked up spotting a electronic horse sliding forward guiding a carriage forward.

Will jogged toward the strangely themed carriage.

"Hello there." the newcomer waved a hand at the young boy;

The traveler was a man covered in sheep like wool that sparkled beneath the moonlight and his skin was dark as the night with large floppy sheep ears.

"Hi, I am Will Robinson." Will said.

"I am the traveler." The traveler smiled.

"Good to meet you." Will said.

"You as well." the traveler grinned with a nod. "If you're Will Robinson . . then where is your companions?" Traveler was frowning as he was gesturing his finger from side to side. "Is Robinson Robot cooling your friend down as he relaxes?"

"No." Will replied. "They died a year ago."

"Dead?" The traveler frowned. "I heard one of your friends was alive . . . Do you mean to tell me that the rumors are true? That you had a imposter in your mist?"

"He wasn't a imposter!" Will closed his eyes then let out a sigh and opened his eyes turning his attention up toward the traveler. "He was his counterpart."

"Counterpart from the anti-matter universe as everyone was saying?" the traveler asked.

"A alternate anti-matter universe," Will replied. "Not ours."

"I see."

"He had to go back because he felt that he were making everything darker and going to get all of us killed. It wasn't true." He shook his head. "What was really happening was that _we_ were making him brighter and alive."

"How did he," he swept his finger from side to side. "Go to and from?"

"He had a alien displacement wrist band made by Professor Eglardo," Will said. "He is a intergalactic law enforcement officer here."

"That law enforcement officer tried to help him." The traveler said.

"Doctor Smith had to volunteer." Will said. "He was desperate to get himself cured and get back home. A little too desperate."

"And what did this wrist band look like?" The traveler tilted his head

"Like-" Will picked up a long blade of grass and several rocks then knelt down and formed a sphere shape. He dropped the rocks on to the blade of of grass then looked up toward the traveler. "This." The traveler nodded in understanding. "Sometimes, when I were around Doctor Smith . . . I noticed that his wrist band glowed green and he had to pause then walk around the area. It wasn't often that we found weak multiphasic barriers in our time together but we managed to make a mental map of where not to go on our explorations together."

"He could freely go home at any time . . ." The traveler grappled the subject as he mused over it then frowned. "or go somewhere else and he didn't do that at all?"

"He didn't want to burden his curse with anyone else or continue running." Will said.

"That is really sad." The traveler said.

Will nodded in agreement, somberly.

"And the truth is . . . " Will looked aside. "I miss both versions of him _and_ Robot." he turned his attention toward the traveler. "If I could have one version of my friends by my side then the journey home wouldn't feel so bitter."

"Your frankness about it is very unique of you."

"I don't recommend telling Eglardo about his invention." Will said. "Not ever. It will only hurt and it won't fix your problems."

"That is something I will abide by." the traveler reached a hand out then put a hand on his shoulder and clenched it with sympathy. "I feel your pain, young Robinson."

Will closed his eyes, tears began to fall from along his eyes, then pushed the tears back with his sleeve and opened his eyes.

"Thank you."

The traveler went inside the carriage then returned with a ice cream cone in layers of chocolate and Reese cups sticking out.

"Here," The traveler handed the material to the boy. "Have a ice cream. No bolts, no poison, just chocolate and nuts."

"Gee, thanks." Will looked up with a smile toward the traveler and stepped back. "What are you doing here?"

"Traveling far and wide to be the very best listener in the galaxy! The best listener there ever was!" The traveler grinned then pointed at his chest. "It's my motive."

The traveler picked up the handle to the horse then smacked it against the electronic horse.

"Go!" The traveler cried.

The traveler and the carriage sped off leaving dust behind. Will licked his ice cream cone over the passing hour feeling better inside and the pain in his heart began to dull. The cone itself was finished after the ice cream was eaten away. Will licked at his hands then went to a nearby pond of water and wiped off the remaining nature of the meal then wiped it off on the side of his pant leg.

"Will!" Penny said. "You have to go back to the Jupiter2!"

"What is it, Penny?" Will asked.

"We got Doctor Smith back!" Penny said. "He is alive!"

"Where?" Will asked.

"At the Jupiter 2 in his stateroom!" Penny exclaimed.

"Really?" Will asked.

Penny nodded, rapidly, excitedly.

"Really." Penny said.

Penny and Will ran all the way back to the Jupiter 2.

* * *

Judy heard the door open to the residential deck then slid the door to the older man's stateroom close. The young boy came speeding her way with a grin that made his face bright. Judy extended a arm out causing Will to have a unexpected halt in his tracks in front of the stateroom.

"Is he awake?" Will looked up toward Judy.

"Fast asleep." Judy said as Will put his ear against the stateroom door then heard familiar snoring and grew a wide grin. "He is not ready for visitors."

"Despite sounding healthy," Penny added.

"Well, when is he going to be awake?" Will asked as Penny joined his side.

"According to mother, tomorrow morning," Judy said.

"Tomorrow morning!" Will said. "Sounds like that will be in forever."

"Me too," Judy said. "But, it won't be very long compared to the one we had before with him."

"It wouldn't," Penny agreed.

"What happened to him?" Will asked. "He wouldn't be fast asleep after coming back to the Jupiter 2 on his own will."

"He was in a firefight with some of his friends against alien foes." Judy said. "Their faces were painted and their weapons were very different. They looked so like a bunch of humans wearing capes."

"Different?" Will asked. "Like, our laser pistol different?"

"The model was odd but it was a lot like the ones that we used in the first year." Judy said. "Those small ones with the little glass cones behind the opening."

"I get what you are saying." Will said. "Before we switched over to the laser rifles---Wait, you are saying that is Alpha Centauri approved weapons!"

Judy became quiet for a single moment looking aside then her attention returned upon her brother.

"Yes." Judy said. "I suppose I am. . ." Then her eyes widened. "Alpha Centauri System weapons being used against him?"

"This doesn't smell right." Will said.

"He will explain everything in the morning," Penny said. "It will be okay."

"It will be." Judy nodded then went off to the second master stateroom that she shared with Don and closed it behind her.

"I am hitting the hay, Will." Penny said.

"Did you see him?" Will asked.

"He was hurt." Penny said. "You should see him when he is at his best."

"When you say it that way," Will said. "I like to see him at the top of his beat."

Will went into his stateroom then closed the door behind him and Penny turned the light off then went to bed.


	18. Chapter 18

Eglardo was strolling through the city with his hands in his pocket looking around the area when he spotted a wanted woman walking through the city. Her face was the first thing that made him to pause in his tracks. She turned toward him then smiled, widely, in such a way that all of the hair on his skin rose. Soon after, rage replaced the shocked feeling.

It was a taunting smile back at him.

Then she beckoned him on as she went on among the crowd.

He began to high tail after the unique woman fleeing through the crowded street.

"Haaalt!" Eglardo shouted. "In the name of lady justice!" He took out his laser pistol and waved it in the air. "HALT!"

Then came to a abandoned and dark alley where she stood.

"Well then . . ." Came a familiar voice from the woman.

"Ready to turn yourself in, Vikari?"

"I have a offer." Vikari said. "Come with me, do the one thing that you want the most, and I will turn myself in."

"You have abducted and turned countless number of people without terminal illness into amusement park rides," Eglardo said. "That is a crime."

"A crime it is," Vikari said. "A crime that I paid for in losing a most well kept friendship with Captain Mariza Bronius. But. . ." Vikari approached him with her hands in her lap. "A crime can be forgiven if you have a opportunity to redeem yourself."

"What kind of redemption do you seek?" Eglardo put the laser pistol away.

"The one thing you want to do," Vikari said. "What if I presented you with a opportunity to do the greatest wish that you have wanted since childhood?"

"I am listening." Eglardo folded his arms.

"And you get to do the career that you like." Vikari asked.

"Sounds too good to be true," Eglardo said. "I don't have the time to do that kind of hobby."

"What kind of hobby is that?" Vikari asked, curiously.

"Playing with the multiphasic barrier," Eglardo said. "Just that sort of hobby."

"Sounds like a project," Vikari said. "Not a hobby. Where is the hobby in tinkering?"

"It is in collecting material that would never be found." Eglardo said. "I have my fair share of collection from anomalies."

"That is a very unique collection." Vikari said.

"It is merchandise," Eglardo admitted.

"Now, that is a hobby." Vikari noted with a chuckle. 

"It would take years before I could make sure that it is operational and safe for travelers." It only brought a smile upon Vikari's face.

"We have Andronican technology at our disposal." Vikari said. "Tech that has been modified to perform one purpose; to clone."

Eglardo looked upon the older woman weighing what was best to say, skeptically, looking upon her.

"Will you turn yourself in after the operation?" Eglardo asked.

"I have a employer who will pay you handsomely." Vikari said. "Someone who is very high up in the food chain."

"You haven't answered my question, Vikari." Eglardo said.

"I will." Vikari said. "We want your hobby just to work twice, successfully, for two travelers."

"Just two?" Eglardo asked.

"And then . . . all your work. . . everything to be ruined." Vikari said with a slow nod. "That sort of thing should not be allowed to remain open."

"It should be allowed to exist," Eglardo said.

"There would be trouble," Vikari said. "Everything brought here has a consequence. To objects, they don't. To people, they make a large splash and qualities splatter around." Eglardo considered her comment. "They want one man."

"Who?" Eglardo asked.

Vikari smiled, holding back.

"They wish to tell when you have a successful test." Vikari said. "Just a small insignificant person. Nothing more."

"What happens to my clone?" Eglardo asked.

"They get to live and do smaller tests of their own," Vikari said. "They get to make a hobby out of collecting random merchandise from different universes."

Eglardo grinned then held his hand out.

"Deal." Eglardo said.

Vikari shook his hand.

"Excellent." Vikari said. "Let's start the order of business."

And they popped out of existence.

* * *

Morning returned to the planet that the Robinsons were calling as a rest stop. A planet that held uncomfortable memories that had been swept away replaced by warmer, fonder, and more pleasing memories with their renewed stay on the planet. They had two tables out set up for the additional guests. The family were sharing grins of their own with the prepared food on the table waiting for the expected guests to come down. Will looked up toward the doorway of the residential deck spotting a familiar figure being joined by the two guests that were, different.

Something was off about them. There were subtle differences in their faces that it went down the road of uncanny valley. The two men grinned then made a bolt for the table sporting on head of the older man. It was then that Will noticed something was different; his hair wasn't gray but a dark brown and the face wasn't quite as welcoming as it had been long ago. Instead of a pair of two friendly eyes, they were wary and cautious. They were ancient eyes with the walls held up. And yet, Will was happy to see _him_.

"Hello, Doctor Smith," John greeted.

"His name is not Doctor Smith." Replied the companion.

"He isn't?" Penny asked.

"He isn't."

"He has his face." Don said.

"He gets that a lot. Beeelieve me." The men looked toward the counterpart who resembled Smith in so many ways. "Getting him to Fleet Command Control has not been easy. We could do with a guy like him in the war Vega Control wants to start."

"Ry-anne," replied the younger man. "I get the distinct feeling that we shouldn't be talking about these matters."

"They rescued us, Val-tor-ium." Ry-anne replied. "We can talk."

"Vega. . . " John said. "Isn't that in the Alpha Proxima System?"

"Yes." The older man's voice sounded strikingly like _him_. "It is."

"I don't know who you are mistaking him for this, but this is Isaac." Ry-anne said. "He is a big deal because he was the first man who invented the manu-droids."

"Manu-droids?" Maureen asked.

"Manual operated droids." he slapped the older man's back with a loud laugh then stretched his arm out and squeezed the man's shoulder looking down toward him with a grin. "Aren't you, Isaac?"

"Indeed," was the reply. "I am."

"I like to thank you folks for saving our lives out there." Ry-anne said.

"It is not a problem." Don said. "My wife, Judy, deserves all the credit."

"Thank you, Mrs." Was the reply from Ry-anne.

"Your welcome," Judy said. "Can he talk?"

"He talks very little. Only talks when it is important." His companion stared at the man, perplexed by his own observation, then grinned turning back toward the group.

"Fine by me." Don joked.

"He is what you call a . . ." Ry-anne said. "There is this old Earth phrase. Puppet mangers? Theater prop managers? The people who make objects move in the cloak of dark while watching a play in the theater."

"Ninjas." Penny, Will, and Judy chimed at once.

"Never heard of them." Ry-anne said.

"What planet are you from?" Maureen asked.

"Earth," Val-tor-ium replied with a grin. "2197."

"Two hundred years. . ." Don said.

"What do manu-droids look like?" John changed the subject.

"Six feet tall, bobbed head, arm sockets in the chest, and tank treads." Val-tor-ium replied then shook his head. "Too bad that we had to leave it behind."

" _Him_." Isaac corrected, sharply. "He preferred to be called he/him/his."

"It was a machine," Val-tor-ium said. Isaac stared back at the man beside him. "Never had life. It was a bunch of bolts, tapes, and metal. You programmed it to act alive."

"Peepo is not a ordinary machine. He is alive to me." Isaac said. His words were softer, kinder, and less arrogant than they had been before. "Even if he may be gone to us forever, you should still respect him in uncertainty."

"Ro-A robot?" Will asked, turning his attention upon Isaac then toward the younger man. "When I hear manu-droid, I think of manual operated android."

"That is because it is," Val-tor-ium replied. "He has unexpected power outages and cannot be alone for long."

"Power outage. . ." John said as Don narrowed his eyes toward the older man. "Why?"

"Hmm," Isaac ate with no answer.

"Because he is junk." Val-tor-ium said.

"And so are you." Isaac said, sharply then Val-tor-ium frowned. "Junk are people who don't use their minds or their hearts but their hate as a weapon."

Isaac fell silent as he resumed eating his food and Ry-Anne looked aside.

"I came across someone a long time ago who was consumed by it," Don spoke up. "It really aged him."

Isaac regarded the man for a moment then resumed eating.

"Really?" Val-tor-ium asked.

"Worked for the Kavalarians," And Isaac stopped, eating momentarily, his eyes flashed open staring at the lieutenant colonel visibly frightened and horrified. "He was there during Judy and I's capture. It was a sticky mess, but we got out of it because of another Smith who was heavily mutated and nearly completed his mutation at that point." Don looked down toward the left at the memory, quite regretful, his hands in a fist that was beneath his chin with his elbows on the table. "Left awhile ago after we helped him put his infection into remission."

"Say, are the Kavalarians still around?" John asked.

"In patches." Isaac replied. "Their empire was conquered."

"What were you running from?" Don asked.

"Vegans." Ry-anne said. "They ambushed us on the way the ship."

"Did anyone know?" Maureen asked. "That you were going after him."

"No." Ry-anne said. "Nothing to be bothered about."

"Why didn't you take Peepo if he is more important than Isaac?" John asked.

"He would destroy us and himself before he would let anyone put their hands on him." Val-tor-ium replied. "Was in the process of doing that before he came along." Val-tor-ium wiggled his finger toward Isaac.

"What makes Peepo so special?" Will asked.

"If you can travel in space then you can make your own protector." Penny agreed.

Ry-anne and Val-tor-ium both smiled, condescendingly, back at Penny as Isaac ate silently and slowly.

"It is a fair question, men." John said. "When we are from, Robot was just off the assembly line."

"That machine has tech that we need to study and replicate for defense purposes. It's the most advanced technology around since the second nuclear war wiped out crafts like yours. Even destroyed every place where advanced technology was made." Will and the family stopped eating looking back toward the duo then back toward their aged friend who was continuing to eat while Ry-anne continued to talk. "Most of our records were destroyed in the nuclear war."

 _Oh._ It made sense then to the Robinsons. They had been forgotten; a perfect opportunity to return home. One that he was taking it leaving them behind to a past that he refused to speak of into detail. And yet, he had still fallen into trouble and paid for the due that gave him a seat aboard the ship.

"Took us ages to get back to telephones, telephone poles, typewriters, but we fought back to a level that we used to be in _somewhat_ before the second nuclear war. All the way back to the 20th century." Ry-anne referred to the craft with a hand motion. "Last ship like that launched for Alpha Centauri at the beginning of the second nuclear war. That very day, actually. All lives were lost aboard the craft as were millions of people. We used to have a steadily going colonization of Alpha Centauri in the 21st century until that day and then . . ."

Ry-anne fell silent with a grim demeanor and couldn't finish the comment.

"Before that day, we colonized Vega. And we had lost contact with them for a hundred years." Val-tor-ium continued for Ry-anne. "Back in 2190, we sent a explorer rocket. They picked him up along the way after getting their course done wrong with bad math." Isaac took in a sharp breath then exhaled with a visible wince at the mention of the past. Uncomfortable memories resurfaced at the reminder. "Took them five years to get back on course."

"Five years. . ." John's eyes were set on the older man who was cutting the sunny side up egg.

"Is a long time." Maureen said.

"It is." Val-tor-ium agreed. "Beamed over every survey they got upon meeting up with a relay probe and that was the first sign that they were alive."

"Sadly, it was Alpha Vega that the crew went to after getting back into familiar territory." Ry-anne said. "Turned out, they had a army waiting when the crew went there. Found out the hard way about our lost history."

"Only three members of the crew got back to Earth control by taking different crafts. Except, this very nuts survivor came back here where they found him and insisted that he was safer than any place in the galaxies. Claimed it was home." Ry-anne looked toward him Isaac. "How old were you? Forty? Thirty?"

"Two hundred forty-nine." Isaac said.

"It was difficult just to convince him to leave with us." Val-tor-ium said. "We are . . . _were_ the rescue team."

"Who needs rescuing ourselves." John said in mirth.

"That is true." Ry-anne said. "I am the commander of the rescue team. Used to be ten of us."

"Lost our security team and our chief of engineering," Val-tor-ium said. "That chief of engineer was also the very same designer of the ship."

"How is your ship?" Penny asked.

"In good condition." Ry-anne said. "Peepo will be waiting for us upon our return."

"Thank you for the pleasant meal, madame." Isaac said, lifting himself up from the chair. "We won't be here long."

"You don't know that." Ry-anne said.

"In fact, I do." Isaac said. "I know this planet better than everyone. I _have_ spent almost a hundred years on this planet."

"Two hundred years." John corrected then looked up toward the unchanged expression on the older man's face. "I am sorry that we left you alone for so long."

"Good-bye." Isaac turned away from him.

"Do you know this man?" Ry-anne asked, getting no answer from Isaac who only walked away from him.

"A long . . . long. . . long time ago." John said as they watched him walk away. "You're in a timeline where he died before he could leave with his life."

"Died from our mistake, not his." Don said. "Before Isaac became quiet, he was a chatter box."

"What did he do to leave?" Ry-anne asked. "In the timeline that we are from."

"I exiled him." John said with a nod. "And never came back."

"Why did you come back?" Val-tor-ium replied. "Why now?"

"We're just visiting old stomping grounds on our way to Alpha Centauri," Maureen said.

"We know the way." Judy said then smiled toward Don and squeezed his hand on the table and he smiled back at her.

"How long have you been in space?" Val-tor-ium asked.

"Close to a thousand years." Will said. "We got to spend five hundred fifty-five years of it with him."

"It ended disastrously." Penny said, softly.

Ry-anne got up to his feet looking down upon the family in pity as did Val-tor-ium.

"This must be Hell," Ry-anne said. "If he is the same man."

"Must be," John agreed. "Seeing dead people being alive again." he tapped his finger on the table looking back. "I can imagine the agony. It's a cruel kind." he paused before adding shifting his attention toward Ry-anne. "We _know_ how it feels."

"We all do." Don added as his features softened.

Val-tor-ium bolted on after the older man leaving a half empty plate and the captain smiled back.

"My friend is the chief of security." Ry-anne said. "Forgive him, he is not the kind of person who looses a mission."

"It is okay." Maureen said. "I happen to live with two men who are the same way."

"Only because we have to keep our eye on it." John said with a laugh.

"We don't need to do that these days." Don said. "Our mission is right before our eyes and we got it in the grip."

"A death grip." Judy said with a smile and Will was the silent member of the family looking on toward where Isaac had gone. 

"All we get to do is have some fun." Penny said. "Besides to doing some drilling for fuel."

"Thank you for the understanding. And the morning meal." Ry-Anne said then walked off.

"Can we follow them, mommy, daddy?" Penny and Will asked at once.

"Can we?" Will asked.

"If Isaac wants to keep his space from you," Maureen said. "I expect you to respect him."

"We will." The children nodded.

"Then you may." John replied.

The family grinned then finished their morning meal.


	19. Chapter 19

Eglardo awoke abruptly then slid up in the tube using his hand to guide the door to the side. The tube across from him was empty. Where was the clone? He looked on spotting Vikari was across from him standing beside it instead of standing beside him. She walked over to his side then smiled. 

"Where is the original?" Eglardo asked.

"On his way out," Vikari pointed toward a hovering high definition screen displaying himself walking off through the street whistling. "Are you ready to make a step forward?"

Eglardo paused, observing her, then grinned and nodded.

"I am ready."

Eglardo was helped out of the tube then landed to his feet.

"Where would you like to start?" Vikari asked.

"Somewhere remote," Eglardo said. "Somewhere that a ancient civilization once thrived. A highly advanced one. And I need my storage container on Bilbo Ballad retrieved. It is container 38678y5."

Vikari snapped her fingers then Agethar, from within the dark, went away.

"Consider it done." Vikari said.

"I am very certain that alien advanced technology will help me in the machine's construction and degradement." Eglardo said. "Engineering it will be a different matter entirely."

"I am going to start from the size it is currently--" Eglardo was cut off by Vikari.

"How big is it?" Vikari asked.

"The size of a storage container." Eglardo said.

"Ah. I see." Vikari said, slyly. "That _is_ a lot of work."

"Fairly." Eglardo said. "I am going to need help lifting the equipment into my lab."

"That I can provide with my assistants." Vikari gestured toward Barfar, Neminthar, Lucethar, their yellow large eyes trained on him. The group were lightly covered in armor that complimented their red scaled skin, red silky long johns, and their bulky, rough, and wide faces with spikes along their square jaw. "They come very recommended from a friend of mine."

Eglardo grinned.

"My name is Liam de la Eglardo of the province of Saclaptu of Jagala." Eglardo said. "We may have a long and rich friendship if you want it."

"We won't fail you." Lucethar said. "Sir."

Eglardo's grin only grew then he laughed.

* * *

The wound had long healed but it was a chronic pain for the family. The pangs in their hearts were ones that could not be ignored. At seeing him, alive and well, walking around keeping his distance away from them. It was agonizing how he ignored them. And as one of the men had said, it must be agonizing for him not to let them in as he had done before and allow his heart to be broken by his own hands. Maureen could only pity him from afar.

She looked up from the garden finishing up the last bits of her chore when she saw Will, Debbie the Bloop, and Penny returning without the men while Judy was nursing Joshua. She started to smile but it faded once noticing her daughter's sleeves were torn as were her stockings, boots, with long fine cuts reveal beneath her skin. She loudly gasped then came to her daughter's side and Judy let out a shrill shriek noticing the wounds on her.

"Penny, are you okay?" Maureen asked, her hands on the young girl's shoulder.

"A little stung," Penny said.

"Come inside," Maureen guided the chimpanzee and the young woman into the Jupiter 2.

"Will, what happened?" John turned his attention down toward the boy as he came away from the table with Don by his side. 

"We tripped off a animal trap, and, we chased after her and we had a difficult time getting her out of the hunter's trap." Will admitted.

"A hunter's trap?" John asked. "How did that happen?"

"We were racing Val and Ry," Will said. "Isaac refused to be part of it. Saying he was too old to do that sort of thing."

"Alright," John said. "What happened next?"

"Val and Ry came to blows over the hunter's refusal to return her. They didn't want to make you angry dad and they thought they could handle it on their own." Will said. "They were really frantic at the thought of bringing chaos and leaving a bad mark on us."

"Chaos," Don said. "Sounds right up Smith's alley."

"He wasn't the one instigating the chaos,"

"What was he doing in the mean time?" Don asked.

"Taking his time following us. We did sprint ahead of him." Will admitted. "Left him in the dust."

"Okay." The men said.

"How did you solve the problem?" John asked.

"The hunter was going to kill them when Isaac caught up with us and his shriek caused the hunter to stop what he was doing," Will said. "Long time since I heard his scream that way."

"Was it the cowardly shriek, the horrified shriek, gleeful shriek," Don listed. "Or was it the one where he shouted 'no' in protest?"

"It was the no shriek." Will said. "Then The hunter and Isaac talked. Isaac did most of the talking. Apologizing for them and pleading for their life. And offered to help him set up the intruder trap. That is what they have been doing for the past few hours."

"Thank you, Will." John said.

"You won't guess what I am making for dinner!" Don said.

"Boston cream pie?" Will asked.

"Chicken pot pie and cheesecake!" Don announced.

"It was teamwork regarding the cheesecake." John laughed. "Cheesecake is for desert. Go wash up, we will be having dinner soon."

"Yes, sir!" Will made a bolt for the stair steps and went up into the residential deck.

Don turned toward John.

"He has changed." Don said. "He didn't run away. He stayed behind to fix the trouble."

John turned toward Don then nodded.

"A part of me doesn't want to know how much this planet has changed him." John said. "But, I will have to face it."

"I am scared about that, too." Don admitted. "If we knew that leaving him behind on that planet would have prevented this entire fiasco---"

"I would have left him behind in a heart beat," John said. "As much as I wouldn't like it; he would have been still around to be a thorn in our side."

" **MY** side you mean," Don corrected. "A symbiosis relationship would still be possible for the family."

"It's still possible," John said. "He has learned."

"John," Don warned. "Remember, we met 3122 and 102?"

"I remember," John said, grim. "They are not easy to forget."

"Right after Smith lost his ring on Gulbaris to the kleptomaniac," Don said. "Imagine if those people didn't exist to come back in and fix the mess that this decision that you make because Will and I are _dead_ there."

"The way, I see it, Major." John said. "He is dead here. We would be correcting our continuity with his presence."

"Right. . . I forgot about that." Don said then laughed with his hands on his hips. "I will check on the chicken pot pie."

Don returned into the Jupiter 2 then John looked on toward the terrain scanning the horizon half expecting to find Isaac returning with Robot.

* * *

The trio returned that night, after dinner, after the children.

"Isaac, you said that you would find it." Val-tor-ium whined.

"Dear captain, we almost did." Isaac said. "If it weren't for the young girl getting her boot stuck in the barbed wire around a alien dog then we would be in the right position to continue our search."

"Why can't we do in the night?" Ry-anne asked.

"Predators of this planet are out and about," Ry-anne and Val-tor-ium yawned at once. "As you elegantly put it, you are too tired."

"He is right." Maureen said. "We have met a few of them. Welcome back," the force field generator was deactivated and the men walked in except for Isaac who remained where he was away from her. "Isaac. . ."

John came down the residential deck staircase and joined Maureen's side.

"Why don't you come in?" John asked, putting his hand on the side of Maureen's waist.

The older man's blue eyes looked toward the madame then back toward the professor.

"You know that I and your family cannot be in the same place. Wounds only come, the disaster of losing your family, condemning them to worse fates. I am a liability. You said that yourself." The professor and the matriarch were silent as they listened to what the older man had to say. "That is what I have been and always will be."

"Not to the people who are taking you to Earth." Maureen said. "After everything they went through."

"Liability brings trouble and they want it." Isaac said. "You are colonists not officers."

"What about you?" John asked. "What are you?"

"A necessity." Isaac replied.

"You are not a necessity to us." Maureen said. "You're our friend."

 _"You_ don't want it." John and Maureen was reminded by Isaac. "You exiled me."

"That was the other me." John said. "Back then, certain things hadn't happened yet."

"It's not in your interest for me to come back." Isaac reminded.

"Is it in _your_ best interest to come back?" John asked.

He got no answer from the older man who was mulling it over, reflecting, looking aside.

"Is it peaceful?" Isaac asked.

"There are no wars." John said.

"No wars." Isaac repeated.

"Yes." Maureen nodded.

"It would be." Isaac said. "Although, I do owe the fallen crew to finish the mission."

"What are you going to do this time for the military?" John asked. "Sabotage your own creation? Spin the war in someones else favor if they pay you right?"

The older man paled then he grew concerned.

"What did you do, professor? Force him to say it before he was ready?" He was crest fallen in a way that Maureen and John hadn't seen. "Is that why he is dead?"

"No-"

"You _know_." Isaac said with certain weight to it. "Whatever circumstance lead to it will happen _again._ That means I cannot stay among your family."

"But, it won't." Isaac glared him down then John admitted. "It would."

"I have changed for the better." His words were soft and sincere. "And I can't go back to that world even if I wanted to. I **can't** do it." he shook his head. "Every time that I look at the boy, all I see is what I what I _did_ to him." He shook his head, pitying, regretful, then turned his attention aside. "I will never let another child get that close to me."

"Never is a long time." Maureen said.

"I will make sure that my social circle doesn't heavily feature one should I be forced into a situation I used to be in."

It were words that stung.

"Smith. . ." John said.

"It was a mistake." Maureen said.

"For as long as I shall live." Isaac said.

"Are you sure-"

"It is the only way to prevent history from happening a second time and you know how _badly_ it hurts parents."

John and Maureen became silent for a moment.

"Do you regret it?" Maureen asked. "How it ended?"

"Leaving your family that morning was the best thing that I did." Isaac raised his head up.

"You didn't answer her question."

"And no, I do not." Was the reply followed by a sour smile. "And I find that I am happier liking myself."

"I regret that decison." John said.

"So do I." Maureen added.

"Every day." John said.

The older man held his hand up appearing insulted.

"You _had_ that opportunity to come back. You lost it." he lowered his hand then linked it behind it back with his other hand. "Now, you have to live with it for the rest of your life as I do."

"What opportunity did you lose to apologize for?" John asked.

"Professor." was the reply that the older man had staring at him, exasperated.

"Oh. . ." Then John laughed, finding it amusing, putting his hands on his hips with a grin. "You never did confess."

"And I am not about to confess to someone who isn't the Professor Robinson that I know." Isaac asked.

"Hey, dudes!" Ry-anne asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Hover boarding," John covered for him as the older man began to relax. "Just hover boarding."

"Discussing how it would be a more convenient form of transport on the hills," Isaac replied.

"You had a full length conversation that didn't involve less than a hundred words for once?" Ry-anne asked in shock.

"Yes." John said.

"Good job." Ry-anne said. "He chastises me." He chuckled. "Are you coming in?"

"He isn't." Maureen said.

"I will get the sleeping bag." John returned.

"Then so am I!" Ry-anne followed after John.

Maureen reached a hand out then placed it on to his shoulder and squeezed it.

"It is not easy letting go the thought of you coming back with us to Alpha Centauri." Maureen admitted. "But, I find it is easy letting you go down a very important path."

"We all made mistakes, madame." Isaac said.

"Good-bye, Isaac." Maureen said. "It is who you are now." Isaac offered small smile then gently squeezed her hand and let go retreating it into his lap. "Not what you were."

John and Ry-anne returned then Isaac was handed his sleeping bag and he looked up.

"Good-bye, Isaac." Judy said.

Isaac was surprised to see her instead of the professor then smiled back.

"Good-night, dear." Isaac turned away then walked on joined by his companion.

* * *


	20. Chapter 20

With little trouble, Will and Penny went aboard in their PJ's very early before everyone else woke up then found where the men were camping at late that next morning then left some rations for them. He looked toward the snoring older man resting his back against the wall holding something small. The item fell as he turned to his side and it fell to the floor. Penny picked it up then had a small gasp and Will joined her side.

"Look," Penny whispered, softly.

"It's the photograph we took in 2000." Will whispered.

"So he didn't lose his copy after all." Penny said.

"I didn't find any family photograph copies in his cabin after he passed," Will said.

"Unless," Penny started. "He kept one photograph on him always."

Will looked toward the snoring older man confused but heartbroken by the barrier that he had set up between him and his family.

"We are right here." Will whispered. "Why doesn't he come back if he want to?"

"Daddy talked to him last night." Penny whispered. "He may know why."

"We should do that." Will agreed. "After breakfast."

"I like the sound of that." Penny said.

"Penny," Will noted as he closed the device. "This photograph looks so alive. It's like. . ."

"Magic." Penny said, placing the object on the container. "That is what it is."

"It's like a little pocket dimension that we can put our finger into." Will said.

"Let's go home." Penny whispered. 

"Yeah." Will said. "Let's do that."

They walked out of the tunnel then Isaac raised up watching them leave, yearningly, but heartbroken.

* * *

It was crawling to the afternoon when the men departed from their sleeping grounds. Will and Penny watched as they went toward a large crater with a hole leading down. Isaac was the first to descend then slide down into the tube with ease and a laugh sliding down throwing his hands in the air having the time of his life. Isaac was the first to crash down to the ground and land to his two feet then walk on. There were a series of ridges that acted as a climbing tool up above the slippery slide.

"See?" Isaac asked. "I found it as I said that I would."

"That, you have." Ry-anne said. "What a nifty lab." Ry-anne admired the technology decorating the cavern. "Turns out our work in progress stasis tubes are going in the right direction."

"Very." Val-tor-ium agreed as he went further in behind Ry-anne.

"This machine has its caveats." Isaac said.

"What is it?" Val-tor-ium asked.

"A life for a life." Isaac looked up from the console once dusting it off. "One life acts as the beacon home and the passenger is returned safe and sound."

"But?" Ry-anne asked.

"The beacon goes out."

"A life for a life . . ." Ry-anne said. "How many passengers?"

"One." Isaac reported. "One of you can easily be acquainted to Peepo with some assurances."

Val-tor-ium folded his arms glaring on toward the older man. 

"Bull shit!" Val-tor-ium exclaimed. " **YOU** are the **GODDAMN MISSION** , you shifty wacko! No way in hell I am letting you stay behind!"

Val-tor-ium was tapped on the shoulder then he froze as he stepped forward toward the older man. 

"You," Ry-anne said as the older man's eyes lifted up toward him. "Get in the beacon tube."

"I am surprised." Isaac said. "You? I didn't take you for a Vegan."

Ry-anne wiped off the make up to reveal the stripe on the side of his face.

"I have always been a Vegan." Ry-anne said. "We are better than you Terrans."

"Yes, you are." Isaac agreed. "Capable of freezing anyone with a touch . . . Must be very useful for those annoying you."

"And we will make Earth great again." Ry-anne said.

"Those are _very._ dangerous. words." Isaac said.

Ry-anne gestured toward the tube then Isaac obediently went into the tube. Isaac turned around then faced the lobby of the lab keeping himself composed but he was visibly trembling. Ry-anne went to the console as the children came in the front entrance. He turned the machine on then made a bolt for it toward the lab and hopped inside. The door closed before him then he grinned in excitement.

Will and Penny came to the console then watched as the pod glowed a bright gold on and off. In the blink of a eye, Isaac vanished and was replaced by someone else strikingly familiar to them, only aged by thirty years, sliding the door to the pod open. Will was stunned with widened eyes spotting that he had shrunk in height and his hair had grayed over completely.

Ry-anne watched as the pod door was forced open by the elderly man with widened terrified eyes.

"Who are you?" Ry-anne asked.

The man silently directed the man out of the tube then turned toward the small gathered group.

"Doctor _Zachary_ Smith." Smith replied. His voice had changed in ways that Will hadn't known were possible; his voice was different, but his emphasis on his name was the same. "I am the last survivor of a destroyed timeline."

Will and Penny's eyes widened, exchange a glance, _destroyed timeline?_

"I sacrificed myself to time to stop Mariza Bronius from getting them out of the time transport and take _their_ place, change the course from the recently launched Jupiter 2, and the course of her personal history as well. I sacrificed myself to save them." he shook his head, bitterly. "Instead, I turned the people I loved into unrecognizable versions of themselves. And doomed any sort of relationship with them."

He looked down with a sigh.

"I shouldn't have fallen into that time hole to stop her and instead fell into the final variation of my own destroyed timeline."

He looked toward Ry-anne.

"That matter isn't really important--I distinctively feel that your companion is not performing any bitter sweet sacrifice."

"You shouldn't be possible." Ry-anne said, in horror.

"I am quite aware of that. It consumed me. Regurgitated me. And since then," he shrugged. "I have a odd connection with the creature of Time since intertwining my fate with the appalling spider humanoid." He approached the man and eyed at him. "What is your reason invading her?"

"To go home." Ry-anne asked.

"And?"

"Be a hero." Ry-anne said.

He stared at Ry-anne, exasperated.

"You have no reason to be a hero sacrificing someone you were trying to kill, my dear sir." He lifted a brow then smiled. "Time is filling me in."

"Doctor Smith?" Will said. "Is that you?"

Smith reached his hand out then shook it with his attention toward Ry-anne. 

"Time would like to do one thing with you. " Smith said.

"Anything!" Ry-anne said.

"This way." Smith said walked into the tube that Isaac had once been in.

Then Smith slid the door open and shoved Ry-anne in.

"Hey!"

"Congratulations, you have just won a eternity in Hell." He turned away as Ry-Anne smacked the door. "Hello there," Smith began to smile turning toward the two. "You must be, er." he tapped on his chin, unsure at first, then he smiled. "Of course! The William and Penelope of this universe."

"Oh. . ." Will said.

"You're not _that_ Doctor Smith." Penny said.

"Right, you met the result of my sacrifice." Smith replied then grimaced, regretfully. "The anti-matter version."

"Did it end on a bad note?" Penny asked. "In the pro-matter universe? The original pro-matter universe?"

"No, my dear child." Smith replied with a small but aged reassuring smile down toward her with his hands clasped in his lap. "It ended on a good note. A triumphant but redemptive note." he shook his head in disappointment. "The only good note that became a bad note in the end. . ."

"Can't you stay?" Will asked.

"I can't, my dears." Smith replied, sorrowfully with a shake of his head. "Four Doctor Smith's running around never ends well."

"F-f-f-f-four?" Penny said, stumbled.

" _Technically, _one." Smith amended. "But it's four no matter how you see it."

" **FOUR?** " Will exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"We have none." Will said with a shake of his head. "Are you counting Daddy Zach?"

"No." Smith replied, wistfully smiling down upon the children.

"Then how is there three of them," Will said. "Unless. . ." Will frowned then it dawned on him. "He is _alive_."

"He is alive!" Penny said. "Gosh! How long? How long has he been alive and we haven't known?"

"Ooops. My bad." He turned away, apologetically, sheepishly then looked on spotting a large forming time bubble before him. "And no."

"No, what?" Will asked.

"There are two people who know and one of them isn't aware that they are." Smith said.

"What kind of obliviousness is that?" Will asked.

"They won't look alike." He grinned clapping his hands together then rubbed them together. "Excuse me, the professor and William are preparing to celebrate the major's birthday." he looked toward his left with a fond smile. "I can hear them calling for me."

"Smith, get in here, you made this alcohol birthday cake." Came a different man's voice. "Help us lift it to the upper deck!"

"Doctor Smith, I need help adding the last bits of decoration to the galley." Came a voice older than the other man.

"Smith." The younger man said. "Are you there?"

"Adieu, children." Smith hugged them, unexpectedly. "You will love and hate what the universe has in store for your kind of happy ending."

" _Stop hitting yourself!" Penny watched as a tall pitch black being covered in scales smacked a man against the floor like a rag doll. "Stop hitting yourself!" The creature dropped the older man then approached him with a sinister grin. "Oh, right," He loomed over the man's figure. "I am **YOU**_!"

Flashes of time crossed their eyes.

_"You are a **DANGER** to **EVERY** planet **YOU STEP FOOT** on. You are a **PLANET KILLER**! How many planets have to die because of fossil fuels? HOW MANY? How many animals have to be driven to extinction! Burned alive by forest fires, boiled alive by extreme heat, children struggling to breathe and developing asthma that kills them because **YOU** make it **EXPENSIVE**."_

_"Alpha Prime A was your second chance and you killed it in two hundred years instead of using renewable energy! The sun was your friend and you ignored her! IGNORED HER. None of this computes. This is not what the Robinsons died for. You are leading the effort to use fossil fuels to kill a planet on the third try to do better. You will not live to continue to lead that effort." Then there was sound of loud plasma firing._

Pieces at random.

_Will appeared walking the multiphasic barrier._

It was hard to blink watching it happen.

_"A human body can't withstand radiation."_

_"My body can, major." Attention focused on to Smith. "I am a reformatted human."_

The events were transpiring like scenes out of a movie.

_"Wait, please! One moment!" The younger Smith protested as he was shoved into a strange pod. "One moment!" Binds wrapped around his hands and legs making it hard to get off. "There is someone who doesn't belong among in this universe on Earth!" he struggled to free himself then watched as the pod door closed and his eyes widened in horror. "Someone, LISSSSTTTTTEEEENN TO ME." His eyes were masked by a strange visor object and his frantic demeanor faded then he fell asleep._

Will's eyes widened as he watched the montage play out with the man remaining in stasis.

_The pod remained inactive until the door abruptly opened and he was dragged out by a pair of hands that lead him into the large and gloomy bridge. He crashed with a thud to the ground. He lifted himself up to spot the major of the anti-matter universe beside Jeb._

_"If you like to space him, you can do it to this version."_

_"I like this welcoming present."_

_Smith shrieked as he tried to crawl away then stagger to his feet._

_"Ooooh no, you don't!" West yanked him back and Smith whimpered._

_"Jeb, spare me! Spare me! Jeb!"_

_"Have fun." Jeb walked out._

_"JEEEB!"_

_The layered air lock door was sent open and Smith crashed to the ground._

_"Major, don't! Don't! Listen to me for one moment!"_

_West smiled, staring from the other side, then began to put in the command._

_"One moment."_

_"There is a young man version of Will Robinson running around and if I am suspect that I am right---there will be someone or someones very furious at you if you press that button!"_

_"I would be doing them a favor." West said._

_"You wouldn't be doing them a favor. Not in the least. Not yourself."_

_"I am going to let you suffocate to death in the air-lock." he pointed toward the older man. "If your fantasy doesn't happen in the next three hours, you're dead meat, and you'll be ejected out of the ship."_

_"Don't let your anger consume you. This time." Smith plead. "I had to throw you to spare the Don West. The one who had more control over his anger than you. If you do that, you would be a Major West. If you don't---you will never be Don West. Someone who never trusted a door that COULD NOT HAVE POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO SAAAAABBBBBOOOOOTAAAAAAAGEEEEE."_

_"You're wasting oxygen." West said._

_"It is worth wasting to me. Now go, enjoy your newfound future," Smith said, dismissively. "but remember; I saved the mission. You made the mission a failure dragging me along to the ship where I come from."_

_"Where you come from?" West asked._

_His disguise lowered then West's eyes flashed open and he stepped back at the man in his forties with three eyes._

In the last trade off of events passing through their minds, they saw how things could have gone. Smith and Will making it to the space pod before Bronius shot him down then returning to the Jupiter 2 with hugs, laughter, precious pearls of warmth and love. Of returning to the Jupiter 2, fleeing the planet that could have been a tragedy, and a over due conversation ready to be had.

Of Smith being the only survivor watching the Robinsons be slain by Bronius. All while a shot to the back temporarily had paralyzed him. It was only his head being able to move watching them be killed in the firefight remaining back on the planet for him. A decisive but defiant and bold battle that resulted in a demise standing for who they were. And Smith leaving the planet briefly then returning with Robot to bury the Robinsons; shovel, coffins, and all.

Of Smith leaving the planet, arriving to Tekuchi Seven, coming across Mr Cackler, a explosion that destroyed what little balanced world Smith had left. Of Robot wheeling away from him for his protection. Of Smith being a shadow of himself and taking the freezing tube for the rest of the ride to the space station. Of Smith going to Smythe's bar to nurse the wound in his heart. Of Smith being outraged at the mention of Professor John Robinson in a negative light and going on to calmly humiliate Officer Eglardo. Of Smith seeing a person back from the dead but younger and shriek then flee. Only to be forced to cross paths with them time and time again until they had to be in each other's orbit and make the flight to Alpha Centauri with a lie that the Robinsons faces and ages were changed by a recent adventure.

Of Smith being found out at the rescheduled launch of his treachery, facially scarred from the premature[ rampage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoIOXuoevK8), sneaking aboard to escape the consequences during the rescheduled but much later launch by accident, of being exiled for stranding them, and everything more complicated; yearning to go home but unable to. Then going on to forge his own idea of home away from home. Of reconciliation of the potential reality they weren't going to let him go with them to Gamma and send a ship after him to apprehend him to return to Earth. Of the similarities between the two timelines being similar in one aspects, there was one; Robot going after Smith as a companion.

All the while fourteen year old Will participated in the repairs and the activities of the men. A sharp contrast to the way his relationship with the older man had been. The similarities sharply ended in the trader and Smith was allowed to be taken in the middle of the night after trading himself for Robot's mistake to help him with the food short age.

Only trading himself because of the scorn of the Robinsons not giving him a chance to explain that he had been _trying to fish_ during that time. And Robot's tapes regarding Doctor Smith were wiped clean before being returned to the Jupiter 2. And Robot found out when it was too late of the older man's departure. Then weeks later, Robot took one last look of the Jupiter 2 -- after putting Robbie the Robot back together for the sole task of protecting the Robinsons while he was gone -- then went into the night and went after Smith. The Robinsons promptly followed months later with no news or sign of Robot's return and searched for him.

Of Smith sacrificing himself for the keeper, without the need of the creatures being released, to spare the children from becoming collected. The very same timeline where decades later they went after Smith with a star chart to the Keeper's planet and retrieved him from a lonely fate. Fighting against everything, practically the universe itself, trying to yank him out of their lives and back into the hands of the keeper until the battle was won by their sheer tenacity. 

In similar timelines like it where he left with the Keeper by accident while trying to lift the ship off to Earth, Robot escaping in the nick of time, and all alone in the ship Smith suffered a nervous breakdown. They got him back three decades later, crashed on another planet because of his abrupt episode, and they started to treat him for his nervous breakdown. It was difficult helping him out of the pit with aliens appearing weekly but one that that they fought and made sure he was back on his two feet, alive, and well, fighting against his personal pet fears of being abandoned was the last step to helping him back into a proper state of mind when they were preparing to launch for Earth upon repairs.

Will watched the older man step back and turn away with a sigh.

"Why did you show us those timelines, Doctor Smith?" Penny asked, wiping a tear off.

"To show you how lucky you were." Smith replied. "You had _everything_ , children."

"Everything?" Will said. "Getting to Alpha Centauri without him isn't everything."

"You had a second chance to get to Alpha Centauri and you took it," Smith said. "You fought for it. You had help with a shady character. You befriended him. And he backed you up at every corner when you backed him up in his troubles until the very end. You had everything and the most cruel kind of ending to that story."

"W-w-w-w--we did." Penny sniffled.

"He was a good friend." Will said.

"All the good moments." Smith continued. "How you changed him in good ways and made the experience being in space a little more tolerable with him."

"He made it easy," Penny said. "Too easy."

"Tried to shove us away after each time that he got into trouble and was mean in the first year," Will reflected. "Only showed that he cared." Then he added with a fond chuckle. "It became kind of endearing."

"Someone worth getting to know," Penny said over the man's gravel laughter. "However long he was with us."

Smith observed them with a small smile.

"Adieu, my dear children." Smith said. "You were the best people that I had to wrong to save in a _long_ time."

Smith turned away with a sniffle then turned his attention on and made his way on. And this time, it didn't hurt as much of him leaving as he walked into the time bubble. He joined the surprised men then helped them lift it into the elevator that was a widened version of the elevator car. It resembled a large mechanical lift than the one they were familiar to in many aspects.

They watched the bubble vanish before their eyes then Penny took Will's hand and gave it a squeeze. They stood there in silence for several minutes as Ry-anne frantically smacked against the door until he popped out of existence and his pod was glowing brightly. Suddenly, Val-tor-ium moved staggering forward then looked on in fear toward the tube and let out a furious but heartbroken scream and fell down to his knees. Val-tor-ium sobbed paying little attention to the events happening around him.

"Val, young man, what seems to be the problem?" Isaac asked.

Val-tor-ium looked up toward the source of the voice with widened eyes, Isaac looming over him with his hands linked behind his back, then spotted the tube was no longer glowing.

"You're back!" He got up to his feet then grinned, widely, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.

Isaac looked around then tilted his head lifting his brow.

"For heaven's sake, what has you shook up?" Isaac asked, concerned.

"Ry-anne." Val-tor-ium paled.

"Oh. I remember now." Isaac shook his head, disturbed. "Seemed like a daydream."

Val-tor-ium grasped Isaac's startled figure then the older man relaxed.

"It hasn't changed much from the console that you were once familiar to." Val-tor-ium said. "From what I have seen." Isaac relaxed then returned the hug closing his eyes.

"Val. . ."

"I am sorry about what I said."

"I forgive you."

"You can get this all nipped in the bud."

"I can, my dear friend."

Isaac had a small chuckle then stepped back out of the hug then faced the children, mournfully, but, ruefully. His features softened to pride upon the growing children with certain bittersweet fondness.

"We know that you can't stay." Will said.

"Then why did you come?" Isaac asked.

"To give you a better farewell." Penny said. "Daddy didn't really give you the chance to say it to our faces."

"I didn't give anyone a chance with that certain mistake." Isaac said. "I destroyed the lab decades ago to make sure no one else suffered." Then he tended to the comment. "My friends did." he looked back fondly rubbing his chin. "I wasn't quite awake with that mask on my face."

"You went in it." Will said.

"A simple mistake." Isaac said. "I tried to stop it from happening again. I didn't anticipate being magnetized to the assembly line. . . and I fear they did," then he quietly added. "Too."

"Even if we never came back for you, I am sure that we will missed you terribly and it gave us a really bad heartache." Will said.

"Me too," Penny said. "Good-bye, Isaac Gampu."

Penny held a hand out then Isaac's larger hand took hers and shook it. He shook Will's hand as well. It was a slow handshake that felt different compared to the other handshakes that Will had done. The handshake felt a little more special to him.

"Good-bye, Commander Gampu." Will said, once withdrawing his hand.

"Good-bye." Isaac said then bowed his head with a grin and warmth mixed with fondness upon them. The fondness was so great that the reference of title was ignored. "Young man. Young woman."

He turned away then walked on into the tube from across, and Ry-anne stood. This time, they both vanished at once. Penny and Will were all alone. Will took Penny's outstretched hand and gave it a squeeze. They exchanged a smile then began to perk up and grin. 

"Let's tell everyone the news," Penny said.

"This will make everything feel fetter," Will said with a rapid short nod.

With renewed spirits, they tore toward the entrance.


	21. Chapter 21

"Don is still pondering out there who could be that oblivious, isn't he?" John asked as Judy cradled Joshua.

Judy looked out the window of the Auxiliary deck looking down upon the man resting in the lawn chair.

"He hasn't gotten the answer." Judy said.

"Thinks there is a answer to a question that cannot be answered." John said.

"There isn't one that we don't like." Judy said.

"He is asleep." John said, softly, looking down toward the boy in her arms that had grown quiet

"About time," Judy said, softer, but smiling. She turned her attention off the boy in a pink, green, and yellow onesie toward her father. "See you in the morning, father."

"See you in the morning, Judy." John said.

Judy left him as she went into her cabin with the young boy in her arms as she softly sang to him. John went down the staircase of the ship leading to the surface of the planet. The door closed behind him as he descended. The sky was highlighted by the thunder wrecking mayhem around the Jupiter 2 that was protected by the force field being generated by the generator.

Don was spinning the fidget spinner between his index finger looking on toward the scenery as if seeking for answers that weren't there. The patriarch of the family came to the lieutenant colonel's side then sat down.

"I heard it's still on your mind."

"Smith is the kind of individual that you know who he is at first contact." Don replied lowering his hand with a frown and put the fidget spinner into the cup holder. "And know that he is alive." Don sighed, leaning forward with his hands clasped together in his lap. "That's the part that keeps me asking."

"Well," John said. "They might not know because of a series of circumstance. Like say, he can't speak."

"Or write?" Don asked.

"It could be." John shrugged. "The path that has brought him to life may not allow him to write or speak."

"You're talking about a baby," Don laughed then he paused as a thought struck him. 

"What is it?" John was disturbed by the silence coming from the younger man. "Don, you look pale."

"It's me!" Don bolted up to his feet in shock and _horror_. "I am the one oblivious!"

The thunder struck close to the Jupiter 2 with a loud boom.

"I don't take you as oblivious." John said.

"She changed her looks, her appearance, her age," Don said pacing back and forth in front of the Jupiter 2. "Smith said that he would make her suffer." His hands were in fists. "Well, she doesn't look like she suffered one moment!"

"Bronius!" John stood up to his feet. "She was here? Recently?"

Don paused then turned toward John.

"She changed her last name to Gampu." Don said, grimly.

John's face paled, as the implication began to be made, at the familiarity of the old last name then stood up.

"I don't like where this is going." John said. 

"And she went under my radar." Don shook his hands pointing them in front of himself. "She was right there in front of me."

"She planned this," John said. "She planned this all along after finding out Smith's resurrection machine."

"So was he!" he stretched his arms out then his hands fell into fists, irritated, but angry. "And I did not recognize her."

"Our Smith was with her?" John asked.

"Weeks ago." Don said. "She had a little bundle in her arms and called it. . . " his stomach twisted with a look of disgust. "her little Isaac."

"She brought him back but didn't want to tell us her intentions of raising him herself." John said. "I have a very good feeling that what she did is illegal."

"Trip to Tauron in the cards, mayor?" Don asked.

"Just to make sure that we are right about this theory." John said with a nod.

"Long time since we gone there," Don noted. 

"It has been." John agreed.

The lieutenant colonel was looking toward the night sky's clouds highlighted in white by the thunder. The lieutenant colonel smiled at the thought of going back into space. This time, no dark thoughts plagued him about where they had to go.

"Returning on better terms is a lot better than how we had to come. Speaking of terms," Don turned toward the mayor then had a short laugh. "first time was about Smith and Will being in deep trouble."

"As a baby, Smith deserves law abiding parents." John said. "Not someone who wants redemption and goes the wrong way." Then he lifted a brow facing the lieutenant colonel. "Got your answer, Don?"

Don smiled.

"Yes."

And thunder struck loudly near the lieutenant colonel; highlighting in black and white the two men grinning then returning into the Jupiter 2 over the fading boom of the thunder.


	22. Chapter 22

The Jupiter 2 lifted off from the planet and floated out of the solar system once the revelation had been delivered. The Jupiter 2 emptied of the unnecessary equipment once more leaving it behind to be taken by travelers who came by. Bronius arrived to the area holding the small infant in her arms, rocking him back and forth, over the high pitch wailing of the baby. She knelt down then picked up a baseball catcher's helmet and stood up to her feet.

"Who's a defensive catcher?" Bronius said, wiggling the infant's arms with a smile. 

The baby fell silent staring up toward her and scowled then cried flailing his chubby little hands so she winced.

"I am so sorry," Bronius said. "They left."

She looked down toward the baby that slid the helmet off to the ground and continued wailing.

"Can't bring you to the neighbors for a small visit." She shook her head with a apologetic look. "Nothing I can do about that."

Bronius turned around then walked on.

* * *

Judy went into labor five months after the voyage to Tauron had started. And this time, the Robinsons were prepared with reading up on medical journals for the worst case situation to possibly happen. After hours of panting, Judy delivered a baby girl and their baby girl Edvard Robinson-West rested in Judy's arms as she cooed while cradling the child.

Will sat at the auxiliary deck facing the window and sulked.

"Are you going to sulk all day?" Penny asked, coming to a pause across from Will against the panel to the auxiliary deck.

"I don't feel as happy as I should." Will said.

"Feels sour," Penny said.

"It does," Will agreed with a short nod. "And very bitter."

Maureen joined them, frowning, looking upon her growing children from side to side.

"What is all the pouting for?" Maureen asked, baffled coming between them.

"We wish Robot was here," Penny said.

"Me too," Will said. "Even if we don't have Doctor Smith here. It would have been nice to have introduced Robot to Edvard and Joshua."

"Children, I sense that he is always around us." Maureen said, her hands drifting to their shoulders as she came between them with a smile. "Even if we cannot see him."

"Robot has a unique feeling," Will said. "I don't feel that." He shook his head. "Haven't in the last year."

"So have I," Penny said. "It doesn't feel the same."

"We will find a new normal." Maureen replied.

"I hold you to it, Alpha Control," Penny said, squeezing her mother's hand and had a small smile.

"It will get better," Maureen said. "We thought it wasn't going to get better for five hundred years." She looked back fondly. "It did."

"No," Will shook his head. "It became painful."

"It got worse," Maureen relented. "But, we got to spend what little time that we could around him."

"And he did make some of us talk about how we felt," Penny said.

"I haven't." Will said.

She drew Penny close to her and Penny hugged her mother so Maureen patted on Penny's arm.

"We paid the due that we were deserved and it didn't last long as God had intended." Maureen said with a rueful smile then looked down toward the boy. "As it turns out, neither have I talked about my feelings about the matter with Doctor Smith."

* * *

Joshua was a full year old when the Jupiter 2 arrived to Tauron and landed in the outer reaches of the country side on a section of land. The family got out of their spacesuits then into their civilian uniform. The family came down the steps and set up the Chariot. The Chariot rolled on ahead of the Jupiter 2 locked. They drove through the city on the paved road looking around searching for any place that was remotely familiar while the children and the women remained behind, except for Will.

"Dad, look!" Will pointed toward the window. "There is the Space Law Enforcement symbol!"

"Right where I want it." John said. "Where do we park?"

"Anywhere," Don said. "Remember, we parked in the park?"

"Ah, I remember," John chuckled. "Landed in the fountain because we were being chased."

"That took a while to get rid of all the dents," Don said. "Had to repay in diamonds for the damage to the fountain."

"That was good times." John said, fondly. "Just pick a spot and park," John was amused. "No wonder I forgot this city. It makes me forget parking decency."

They came out of the chariot then went through the revolving door decorated in small light bulbs to the police precinct and found that at the corner of the room was a cell with individual freezing tubes that lined the wall and the corner as well. Some of them were full and some of them were not at all. There were desks around the room with fur walls around them in their own little cubicles where not a sound could be heard. The men gathered at the front desk then the black Tauron looked up toward the mayor.

"Hello, what is the crime you come to report?" the receptionist asked.

"We want to know if something we know is a crime." Don said.

"Oh, what kind of activity was it?" the receptionist asked.

"You recall that we lost a member of our own several years ago," John said. "It is in your files."

"Yes, I recall that. I have been wondering until . . . recently. . . why you weren't getting into trouble," he leaned back with a grin then his face became coated in concern. "Until I heard your doctor were making problems; I thought whatever problems you had were gone."

"That was a different version." John said. "He left."

"A year ago on his own wishes back to where he came from." Will said.

"Our version of him was restored but as a baby," John said. "And the woman who brought him back went past us without telling us why she had done what she had done."

"Is there anything else?" The receptionist asked.

"She changed his name and her name," Don said.

The receptionist grew a broad grin then handed them a padd.

"You might want to select identity fraud, brainwashing, Stockholm syndrome, and abduction," The receptionist said. "It will be in the back log."

John looked over toward the pile of padds then lowered his gaze on to the officer.

"Is that _all_ back log behind you?" John asked.

"Yes." The receptionist said with a small rueful smile. "It will take us years to get through them because of all the time issue."

"Years." Don repeated.

"How many years?" John asked.

"Hmm." The receptionist said. "Can't say. Depends on the chase."

"Uncertainty is a long time." Don said.

John walked away then sat down on to the nearest chair and picked up the small pen that was slid of the panel by his fingers. With tapping and combing through the page, he was able to get back up from the chair in less than five minutes. The receptionist smiled then looked down at the padd and his eyes widened then glanced up toward John.

"You mean former officer Mariza Bronius? That one? She changed her name to Mariza Gampu?" The receptionist asked. "What do you mean? Last I heard, she was a ride."

"Not anymore." Don said as he walked away with his hands in fists.

"We thought that, too." John said. "I left a note for whoever catches her. But, I feel that . . . it may be the very same officer I am familiar to."

"You mean Officer Bolix? He is assigned to Earthling matters," The receptionist replied. "Not that he had any choice."

John grinned and Will laughed then they walked away. 

* * *

"I have called a family meeting to discuss on the matter at hand. Whether or not to go after Bronius. I want it to be a collective family decision," John scanned the group. "We may not return to Gamma by the time Joshua and his little sister are grown."

He looked toward the one year old resting in Judy's lap and his five month sibling, Eddie, in Don's lap.

"It will be a long journey. We will spend years in space going after Bronius and Smith. Now, does everyone like to go after her?"

"Daddy," Penny said.

"Yes?"

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that we accomplished our primary mission," Penny said. "It's time we do a new mission."

"So do I," Judy agreed. "We set up Gamma for all those millions of people. It's time for us to get our happy ending in order."

"Finding a good family to raise someone like Smith?" Don said. "A true challenge."

"Maybe he would end up a better man if he were raised by us this time around." Maureen spoke up.

"And he would grow up this time with a sister," Penny said.

"And brothers." Judy said.

"He wouldn't be the same person I know." Will said. "But, I can try to be a friend to the new person that he will grow up to be."

"I don't know about raising my arch nemesis as my own kid." Don admitted. "It's. . . appealing in some ways."

"In what way?" John asked.

"Getting to tell Smith that he did something wrong and make him to sit in the corner to think about what he did wrong." Don said.

The family roared with laughter and John was the first to stop laughing.

"There is a chance that he will remember what happened, growing up, at random times." John said. "As dreams. As daydreams. As nightmares. They would linger because they were _real_."

The family listened to the mayor's speech.

"We can try to soften his memory by making better ones over it but we would be lying to him just the same if we tell him that it was any of those and not admit the truth. And even if tell him those memories were real; The truth would hurt him. He would run away, fear us, and maybe be distrustful."

"If we help him, just this once, find the right people to raise him. Just find someone who have a clean slate with Smith. Someone, someone, someone who will make sure he grows up right this time with no turmoil and who he can trust. Not be afraid of. And have little to no problems being raised by."

"If he finds out years from know, after remembering everything, after we have redeemed ourselves but still comes for us then it will be a sign that we made the right decision. He would be a different person once he has grown up and gotten them all. Someone, who can approach us and trust us with what little time we have left to enjoy his presence. " John finished. "I like your idea, Maureen. But, as much as I like it, and everyone likes it . . . it is not advisable."

"You're right, daddy." Penny said.

"I like the idea." Will admitted.

"I can live with that." Judy said.

"All that hard work being done by someone else." Don said. "Someone who can iron out his mean and trouble making streak."

"Don," Judy chided. "You have a son and a daughter with streaks to handle."

"But, it won't feel as good as chastising Smith." Don said, earning pearls of laughter from the family and he grinned.

"Alright," John said. "The matter at hand. Raise your hands up if you want to go after her."

One by one, they rose their hands. John scanned the raised hands of the family including the young Joshua waving his hands up and down and clapping them making bubbles come out of his mouth. Maureen warmly smiled down upon the newer members of the family as did the rest of the family. Then Will looked toward his side anticipating Robot to be in there putting into the record of the unanimous vote. And then he was reminded; his friend was gone.

"How are we going to find her before they do, father?" Judy asked.

"We start with asking around." John said. "She may still have friends in the force. People that she keeps tabs with."

"Taking him away from her may prove to be difficult," Maureen said. "And getting the intergalactic system of foster care may be a a hassle. We don't know where they are centered at."

John grinned.

"Doesn't hurt to ask the receptionist." John said, then watched his family smile.

"Speaking of which," Don said. "We need to get new star charts. Just in the event that she goes to a different galaxy."

"We got the diamonds for it," Maureen said. "That is doable."

"It is." John agreed with a nod.

"Traveling around with direction this time," Will said. "This feels good."

"It makes me feel good too," John said. "Maureen, Penny, and Will will go to the star chart store. Don and I will get to the matter about her friends. All of this will be done tomorrow morning after breakfast."

* * *

The receptionist went back on shift and noticed the pile of backlog remained the same but with a layer of it peeled away. The Robinson report was at the bottom of the pile where it had been discarded after being written down on. He put his packed lunch in a drawer beside him then looked about himself. The receptionist took out a padd then pressed several buttons then several moving blocks of colorful figures fell from the top of the frame

The receptionist took calls at HQ and dispatched some officers when a call came in from the city or the outer limits of the country side in between the eye catching game. He regulated aliens who came in at a time to different law enforcement officer's desk by tearing his attention off the game that stimulated his mind. He turned the padd upside down upon the revolving door clicking open up at random.

"Ah, Robinsons." The receptionist said. "Any more problems?"

"Yes," John said. "We like to know if she has any contacts here."

"Course!" the receptionist said. "Lequire, right over there." He pointed behind the mayor and the lieutenant colonel. "She is the only one who talks about her during lunch break and how well that she is doing."

The men turned toward the direction of Lequire then bolted after the short black woman with colorful paint decorating her face and two alien but shiny earrings that glint against the artificial lights of the building. She turned her attention upon the two men and smiled. She pressed a colorful transparent button then the file on her computer vanished.

"How may I help you?" Lequire asked.

"It's about your friend Mariza Bronius," John said.

"Did something happen to her and her baby?" Lequire asked. 

"No," Don said. "But something will happen to her."

"Don," John said. "It's not our business to harm her. You got your turn. It's the law's turn."

"I wish he let me finish her." Don said, seething in rage then the mayor turned his attention on to Lequire.

"We need to know your friend Mariza Bronius is headed toward," John said.

"Preferably, what planet she is on." Don said.

"That baby isn't hers. It's our friend. We filed the report." John said. "It's important we get him back." He looked toward Don then back. "I will see to it that he does not harm her."

"She is on Vahalla." Lequire said. "That is what she intends to raise the child."

"Then we're going back to Vahalla." John said getting up to his feet.

"Wait," Don put his hands on the desk as he lifted himself up partially. "Where is the center for foster care?"

"Ten blocks down," Lequire said then handed a card to the mayor.

"We will come back to Tauron because Tauron is one of the only planets that has reliable and dependable systems." John said.

"Thanks." Don said.

"You are welcome." Lequire said, politely.

The men left then Lequire turned on her computer and began to type a frantic message on the keyboard designated for Bronius.

_You're in danger, girl. They are going to take your baby away._

_Sincerely,_

_Your friend Lisa Lequire._


	23. Chapter 23

They resumed their flight into space for Vahalla. A month and three weeks later, they arrived down to the neighboring planet then went on to the surface of the planet and disembarked. There was hope in the eyes of the Robinsons and in their hearts.

The first breath of air of a alien planet was relieving to have after being cramped in space with everyone else. Don and John took the Chariot out with Will then began to drive out into the distance. Will's eyes were peeled out for alien crafts as were the men.

Back at the Jupiter 2, the tables of hydroponics were taken out.

And the women waited for the return of the men for hours.

All the while, they explored the familiar surroundings that they had left long ago.

This time hoping that a friend who left them on this planet would return to them as a baby.

* * *

The women waited at the auxiliary window looking on toward the ship with hope until they saw it was only John, Don, and Will who had returned. The expectations that they had went down the train but experienced certain glee at seeing the men had came back alive. Penny and Judy ran down the stairs then hugged Don and Will; Penny to Will, Judy to Don.

The Chariot was unfolded then brought back inside and Maureen joined John's side then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Did you find her?" Maureen asked.

John shook his head.

"We searched far as we could tonight." John said.

"No ships?" Maureen asked, her face paled.

"No houses or labs, either." John replied.

"Tomorrow them." Maureen said.

"Tomorrow." John nodded. 

"I made pasta with spiced tomatoes and zucchini noodles." Judy said.

"Pasta! Did someone say pasta? Pasta!" John was the first to charge up the stairs and the rest followed in.

"Anyone says they cooked pasta and he goes nuts." Maureen said, fondly, shaking her head in bemusement then went up the stairs.

* * *

The Robinsons spent months searching on Vahalla for Bronius's craft and found nothing at all. They used their advanced systems to sweep the sea floor checking for a underwater base only to find that she wasn't on the planet at all.

"We will find him, Will." Judy said, one night under the stars.

"And bring him home." Will said.

"I wonder what he looks like as a baby." Judy said.

"I can imagine," Will said. "I saw him as a ten year old."

"What does he look like as a baby?" Judy asked.

"Like a baby," Will said. "The face I saw won't appear until he is at least . . ." he looked at the night sky doing the math. "five, six, or seven."

"Huh." Judy said. "I wonder what face Joshua and Eddie will have."

"The face of a Robinson-West." Will said, helpfully.

Judy smiled back, positioning the little Robinson-West between her legs, as she started to laugh and so did Will.

* * *

"Lequire tipped her off," Don said as John was driving one afternoon.

"She did." John said.

"Where are we going?" Don said, noticing the change of scenery then looked toward the mayor. "I thought we were going to search in the craters again."

"I found a place where you could safely express your anger, Don." John said. "Will and the women have been busy setting it up for the last few months."

"I didn't notice they were." Don said.

"We voted on it when you were asleep." John said. "It's how they have been keeping themselves occupied with the disappointments of Vahalla."

"Family vote." Don chuckled. 

"If it is alright with you," John said.

"It is." Don said. "I do need it."

John resumed driving on ahead of the terrain until coming to the set up log cabin with a curtain instead of a door. Don hopped out then John handed him a bat and the lieutenant colonel took it. Don went toward the log cabin then slid the curtain aside and spotted a collection of glass, plates, and several breakables littering the room and technology that did not quite belong to the Jupiter 2 and computer screens.

Don swung the bat at a statue then struck at it and smashed it. He swung it forward then hit the wide screens repeatedly over and over until it shattered into pieces. Don put the bat aside then knocked the glass off the table with a loud crash. He picked up parts of the breakables that hadn't broken then threw them toward the logs. They broke with a hard crash flying into pieces, over and over, releasing the pent up rage with his hands and the bat.

Don returned, panting, but generally lacking in the same fury that had grown over time. He dropped the bat to the ground once destroying every window, every table, and every piece of furniture in the room. He slid the curtain aside then walked on toward the Chariot with his palm feeling sore as did his elbow from the swinging.

"So, when is our estimated time of departure?" Don asked.

"Anytime that you're ready, Don." John said.

"I am ready." Don said with a smile.


	24. Chapter 24

The Jupiter floated through systems at a time as the months went on. They shared occasional visits down to planet side and preliminary checks and gathered more fuel for the trip to the system spending a week or two to a month at a time depending on the hospitality of the planet and used the space pod to clear the search quickly on barren words. The activity bore reminders of a road trip that everyone was aboard and wanted to be part of.

Will sulked in private as he blossomed to a seventeen year old who remained shorter than his father and the major. It was different being able to age. Will had always imagined that when he did, he would get to share that experience with his old friends.

Yet, cruel, he wasn't allowed to out grow them. Robbed of a experience that he would have wanted. It was agonizing to know he could have had it. But, he had lost it. If only he believed _him_. That was another form of agony. The cruelest kind of _knowing_ how it came to be.

Some of the traveling along the planets that he knew by heart, by memory, were softened by Penny's presence as a form of company. He looked toward his sister often and found her best strength being amplified; being able to carry on with hope.

To make tomorrow even better than the last.

Just as he had for the last thousand years.

Her companionship along with babysitting Eddie and Joshua made him laugh.

* * *

"Eddie, get back here!" Penny chased after the young girl.

Joshua was held in Will's arm as he followed on.

"She can walk, but she can't hide." Will laughed. "After three ways of just rolling, she is running around."

"EDDIE!" Penny cried spotting the three year old quickly walking into a forest.

Eddie squeaked as she fell out of their sight.

"EDVARD!" Will shouted.

The siblings came to the top of a hill and Eddie fallen over a figure and a machine that was quickly falling figure. Penny sprinted down the hill then took Eddie off the figure's back. It was a android by all accounts with a silver cap and colorful clothing with springs set underneath their ears and above their ears facing forward. And bronze antlers instead of silver antlers unlike Vikari.

"We're so sorry," Penny apologized. "Mr. . ."

"Dana." The android supplied.

"Eddie just. . ." Penny tried to start.

"Put that child on a backpack leash," Dana said.

"No!" Eddie cried. "No!" She pointed at a rock. "No!" She pointed at the machine. "No!" She pointed at Dana. "No!"

"What's a backpack leash?" Will asked.

"Will, if we do that, then we're treating her like a animal." Penny said.

"If it keeps her out of trouble then I am sure this can fly by mom and dad." Will pointed out. "Judy and Don would appreciate it the most."

After a moment of thought, Penny nodded.

"You're right." Penny said.

"Thank you," Will said, taking the backpack and slipped it on to Eddie's arms.

Joshua the four year old was looking on sucking on his thumb looking down upon the scene.

"Do you happen to have another?" Penny asked. "For this little guy."

"I have a stash of it." the android returned then handed the backpack to Penny who handed it to Will. "I patented it a couple hundred years ago."

Will put Joshua down to the ground then put the backpack on to the young boy's back.

"There." Will said. "Joshy, walk around."

Joshua nodded then began to walk forward and Will grabbed the leash then yanked him back. The child fell down and stared around, baffled, looking around searching for the root cause of his fall. Will began to laugh, putting his hands on his knees, wiping away tears at a time. Then after a good laugh, he leaned up and shook his head.

"Sorry about the destruction." Penny said. "What is that thing?"

"That is a super collider." Danna said.

"A---wait!" Will said. "Can't that destroy Time and Space?"

"Theoretically." Dana said. "I am just seeing if it can be assembled. Not that it can work."

"And?" Penny raised her brows as Will did with her question.

"This is my three thousandth fiftieth attempt at making it sure it stays in one piece for five minutes." Dana admitted.

"Mr, I think the universe is trying to tell you it isn't meant to made." Will said. "At all."

"You're not the only one." Dana folded their arms. "I have to submit the report tonight," They rubbed the back of their neck. "This is my very last attempt."

"What are you doing to do now?" Penny asked.

"I don't know," Dana shrugged. "I have done this for so long. . . I haven't really thought."

"No!" Eddie pointed at the ship. "Ugly!"

Dana looked toward the ship.

"I could be a ship sales person." Dana said. "This planet _is_ covered in working crafts."

"Do you want us to help you with these pieces of the machine?" Will offered. "We can do that if you like."

"It would be possible if you had a vaporizer to fix this problem." Dana slipped his hands into the pockets.

"That we do have." Penny said.

"Have you met someone by the name of Mariza Bronius?" Will asked. "She may call herself by the name of Mariza Gampu."

"Sure!" Dana said. "I remember her. And her little trouble making son." Dana folded his arms with a sigh. "That child played with things he shouldn't."

"Such as this machine?" Will asked.

"No," Dana said. "He ate my food collection and broke all of my swords playing pirate. ALL of it!"

"Why did you collect food?" Penny asked.

"You mean your food pantry," Will said. "He got into it."

"No," Dana said. "It was in a state of suspended animation. Food wise."

"You stalled time." Will said.

Dana winced, "eh, sort of" with a wave of his hand.

"Sort of. . ." Penny said, squinting.

"Never to grow stale, decompose, or be spoiled." Dana said. "I was going to show it off at the bake ceremony." Dana sighed then shook his head.

"But Isaac ate it," Will said.

"His mother ran away with him before I could make her pay for it only yesterday." Dana said. "I can hardly replace that collection."

"Do you have some idea where they went?" Will asked.

"My long range sensors indicated they went to a far off galaxy." Dana said. "I have it on coordinates."

"We could do with that." Penny said.

"Can you please get it?" Will asked. "My family and I will more than make up the lost merchandise in exchange."

"The ingredients are hard to come by." Dana said.

"We have been a lot places recently. Tell us the ingredients and we can see what we can do."

"When is the bake off?" Penny asked.

"Next week." Dana said then returned into the craft and returned with two datapadds. "The only time I can really go." Dana shook his head, bitterly. "And it's after my station is completely destroyed."

Penny and Will looked up from the datapadd then back toward Dana.

"That's more than enough!" Will said.

"We can have that done in no time." Penny said.

"No time, you say?" Dana asked.

"If we had your help," Penny said.

"Count me in." Dana said.

"I will get the materials," Will said. "Mom and dad will be thrilled!"

Will ran on and Penny squealed, excitedly, then hugged Dana unexpectedly holding on to the leashes belonging to Eddie and Joshua playing around with the equipment laid about them. Joshua sucked on a bolt looking around while Eddie pretended to play equipment in the way of a violin behind them. Yet, it was a hug that Dana welcomed.

"Thank you for staying." Penny said. "You don't know what those coordinates mean to us."

Dana smiled.

* * *

"We have checked here and here." John said as he pointed toward a holographic map in the dark within the residence deck using a laser pointer. "So, the only place is to go from this section of the galaxy to --" he pointed away from the familiar part of the galaxy. "here."

"We haven't looked there." Judy said.

"She is leading us on a elaborate chase." Maureen said. 

"One of these days she is going to land on a old planet that she was on months ago and stay there thinking that we are not going to the places that we already searched one we clear a number of galaxies." Don said. "And we can catch her."

"Uh huh." John said. "We don't know how many friends that she has around the galaxy but with the people that we have crossed paths with---anyone that we met might be her friend." the door to the residential deck flickered open then Will came in. "Will, why are you back so early?"

"I got coordinates to where she was heading."

Will handed the datapadd to John then the pilot stood up to his feet with wide eyes.

"That's a new place!" Don said. "And it is very far out. If we start today then we may get there when Joshua is ten."

"Judy, turn on the lights." John turned off the holoprojection and Judy turned on the lights.

Don stared at the coordinates then back toward Will. 

"Is she a friend of his?" Don asked.

"I didn't ask." Will said. "But, it sounded like she weren't there long to befriend him."

"Who did you get it from, son?" John asked.

"Mr Dana," Will said. "Isaac ate food that he shouldn't and now Mr Dana needs the product baked again. He doesn't have the materials---"

"But you offered to help." Maureen finished.

"Yes," Will said. "I did."

"Maureen, get the equipment ready for that bake off." John said. "And maybe, we can have a cobbler tonight."

Maureen was handed the second padd.

"Ah, this will be easy." Maureen said. "The last time I made this was when that royal tried to marry Penny in order to change their mind about making us be part of their operations."

"I remember that." John said.

"Me too." Will said.

"Remember how Robot made it by accident because Smith and I mixed him up on the orders seven hundred years ago?" Don asked and everyone laughed at the memory that came back up.

"That was good times." Judy said.

"Good times." John said.

"Odd, sloppy pie joe." Maureen looked up from the list. "Who would dislike a hamburger with chicken pot pie in it?"

"People who hijack rides and go on a joy ride then gut them at a shop." John said. "Will, I like to meet Mr Dana."

Will and John left the ship leaving the women with Don.

"How can I help?" Don asked.

And the women grinned then went to work with Don.

* * *

The night before launch, after helping Dana out with his problem and shaking his hand in congratulating him for taking the opportunity to leave the planet behind for the bake off, the Robinsons had a celebration for the significant progress. All they had to do was follow the blaze that she left behind in the form of unhappy people regarding her and the trouble that four year old Isaac Gampu was getting into.

It was night when Will returned to the auxiliary window while everyone was fast asleep within the Jupiter 2.

Instead of sulking, Will was grinning with one hand on the support chair and optimistic.

Something that he hadn't been doing for quite a long time since they met dead ends. 

* * *

It was odd to consider himself the adult and Smith the child when they crossed paths once more as the years long flight went on. Then again, they had those character models in the beginning. Smith had taken the child character, Will realized long after the man had admitted his role, to keep attention off him and make everyone believe that he was not capable of using technology. And Will had stepped up to the plate.

A feeling of warmth spread from his chest then he closed his eyes letting go of a tear that he hadn't quite let go for some time.

"Are you okay, uncle Will?" Joshua asked.

"I am just happy, Josh." Will said.

"Why?" Joshua asked.

"Because these are one of my old stomping grounds."

"You were here before with Isaac?" Joshua asked.

Will shook his head then put a hand on the child's shoulder.

"No," Will replied. "Robot and Doctor Smith."

Nostalgia dripped from his mind looking back and forth between how they would see the other again but not quite. All the while he stood along the terrain looking on exploring the familiar planet they had been on centuries ago.

"Were you my age when you hung out with them?" Joshua asked.

"Thirteen when I stopped hanging out with them." Will said. "I was . . maybe eleven when we started hanging out full time."

"Woooheee," Joshua shook his head, twisting his face, squeezing his shut. "I can't imagine you as a kid."

This time when he stood there, he was a couple inches taller and he felt alone. Even with Joshua. _Neither can I._

"I must be ancient to you." Will said.

Will looked down toward the boy who bore some resemblance to himself as a child for the exception of red hair; his hair was brown.

"I am only nine." Joshua said. "Not so ancient to me."

"So you say." Will surveyed the scene. "I can still hear them bickering about the weather. Doctor Smith was a bit of a contradictory character."

"How was he?" Joshua asked.

"Say one thing and he said the other." Will said.

"That must have been irritating." Joshua said earning a head shake from his uncle.

"No, it was amusing. A little annoying. But endearing." Will said. "Doctor Smith baaed at Robot when informed that the ground was prone to sink from the recent storm."

"A cosmic sand pit?" Joshua said.

"No," Will said. "cosmic sandpits are never ending."

"Then what was it, uncle?" Joshua said.

"A cosmic mud pit." Will said. "They trap you, sink you in, and only let go when they are dry. By then, you might already be dead. This used to be a swampy area once. . A long time ago."

"Woah," Joshua said. "Sounds scary."

"It was scary for us." Will said. "It was still dark in the sky when he marched on down that mound and it was starting to rain hard again," he pointed down toward the ledge that had the remains of a walk way then watched as history played out as transparent specters. "I held on to a umbrella while in my raincoat struggling to keep myself steady and get it out. All before he slipped and fell into a cosmic mud pit head first with his legs waving in the air."

Will let go of a loud and long laugh looking down toward the specter of Smith's waving legs and himself with Robot's help attempting to yank the older man out of the mud pit then watched it vanish before his eyes with his hands on his hips.

"Then the xeno-soil-sampler showed up claiming the dirt was radioactive, something Robot backed up, then insisted that Doctor Smith recovered in his lab for quarantine after helping him out." Will said. "It feels all so long ago."

And he could still hear the man's muffled and frantic pleas for help stuck in the mud Something that haunted him. As he had asked for help prior to leaving the ship and Will lied about being able to help him. It wasn't a clear 'help me' the way that he worded it but a 'help me' being unsure of his own sanity in the first few hours after Bronius entered their lives.

Will was distant from Joshua in his thoughts.

He could have admitted the truth and admit that he didn't know what to do on how to make everything right again. And that would have been help enough to tell him that he was in the same boat as Smith was, Will was certain now, of the situation that had began to unfold changing their lives slowly.

"How along ago was that, uncle?" Joshua asked.

"Not that long ago." Will said. "Not that long ago. . ."

One more year and their search would be close to over. And seeking for him was going to be a easy task for a specific ten year old. The ten year old wasn't going to be Smith. But, the child was Gampu. Someone, like Smith, got into trouble in his youth. Will could only hope that the boy learned from his mistakes. And if he made a big mistake then it would be easy to find him.

"You must miss them a lot." Joshua said.

"Every day." Will said. "I wish . . I wish. . . We had listened to them. Just that once and it wouldn't feel like we're going through Hell."

"No one ever talks about what happened to them." Joshua said. "Just around it."

"Because it was the biggest mistakes we made." Will said. "I guess . . ."

Joshua put a hand on his arm.

"If we hadn't made that mistake, Time would continue to not bother with us and I would still be a immortal thirteen year old." Will frowned looking aside quite unhappy. "If I had known what I knew now then I wouldn't have minded that existence."

"A immortal thirteen year old? You look younger than my dad! " Joshua asked. "How can you have been thirteen forever?"

"A Time lab resetting and destroying itself." Will said. "The other Doctor Smith fixed that. So, that is why I look like a young man."

"Can I become immortal?" Joshua asked. "Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Will laughed looking down upon the boy.

"I thought we were all immortal." Will shook his head. "We were just unable to age. And no."

"Ah darn!" Joshua pouted.

"And we hardly had to clean Robot up." Will noted. 

Eddie was chasing after a small meerkat below them in the valley.

"That must have been fun." Joshua said.

"It was hard work." Will said. "Something I missed doing after a time."

"Hard work!" Joshua said earning a nod. "Getting not to do hard work and you were not happy about it? You were nuts."

Will laughed, warmly, looking down toward Joshua.

"I must have been." Will agreed.

"Why did you stop aging for a time?" Joshua asked, curiously.

"It all started because Doctor Smith wanted to go home," Will began to explain with fondness. "As every day started with before but every day after he stopped that habit. He traveled through time, stopped himself, and stayed behind."

Will snickered growing a small smile.

"But, a asteroid would have killed us if we continued on our course with no interruptions," Will said. "so Robot had to convince him to go back." he frowned. "And he failed."

"Horrible." Joshua said.

Will shook his head looking toward Joshua.

"Doctor Smith convinced himself in the end." Will replied. "And the lab worked overtime to correct back to the original timeline. We didn't come back for a long time as we left Chronos behind to deal with the sensitive matters of his lab." he looked aside in regret. "We should have after we noticed we weren't aging. But, the risk was too great in losing more of our time or one of us to Chronos as a servant or slave to work on the time lab forever. So. . . we didn't go."

Will sighed, regretful, as Joshua blinked absorbing in the story.

"Tell me the story behind Doctor Smith's death." Joshua said. "And Robot's."

Will guided Joshua to a fallen tree then sat down.

"Well. . . " Will became quiet then looked up toward the sky. _I miss you, my old friends._ He looked down toward Joshua. "I will tell you my side of those stories."

And Joshua listened on as Will went over the uncomfortable but ugly details while Eddie collapsed to the ground exhausted by the chase and faced the sky watching the clouds pass by overhead.


	25. Chapter 25

We're there." John announced as the family came up front one morning.

The family stared out at the system in which Bronius was at. There were several planets that waited ahead of them. Instead of happiness to see a planet, it was excitement mixed being daunted by a challenge. Will had his eyes set on the ball. Technically, balls. They were all balls that could conceal what he wanted to find for the last ten years.

The family sported scores of excited grins at reaching their destination.

"Remember when we were here once upon a time?" Maureen asked.

"How I remember." John said. "I can't exactly forget . . . when we were here; Smith wasn't there."

"This time he is here." Maureen said, warmly, but fondly.

"But, not quite." Don said. "He is a different person."

"We'll take that." Maureen said. "What planet could he be on?"

"There are dozens of worlds there," John said. "It will take us a year or two to find him in this system depending on the travel time between the planets. We'll start from the closets one."

"What is the travel time, dad?" Joshua asked.

"I take it's a month just to get to the first planet," Don said. "Third planet from this route will take easily two months to reach."

"Gosh!" Penny said. "That sounds pretty far!"

"It is." John said. "And we will need all the patience in the world."

"We can do it." Maureen said. "We have done it for ten years waiting to find him. We can wait a little longer."

"I can't wait to meet the new kid." Joshua said, planting his face along the port window and his younger sister joined him looking on.

"He will have less adventures to tell than we do." Judy noted.

"Maybe just as many." Penny said. "Bronius _has_ been on the run from us for several years."

"And he won't understand why we've been chasing him." Don said.

"That _depends_ on which memories he has started to regain from his time as Doctor Smith." John said. "We have to be careful about this."

"Very careful." Don said.

"How about I start the first search on each planet of this system?" Will suggested. "So, when I do come across him, we know directly how much memories he has left."

"If he runs away from you." John grimaced. "That is risky. But, you can catch up with him. Will, take a stun pistol with you so Bronius won't leave instantly."

"I will." Will nodded.

"What about us, grandpa?" Eddie asked.

"Us telling some stories about Doctor Smith that we have been holding back for this very special occasion." John said. "Your grandmother has quite a few of her own to tell."

"Can you, grandma?" Eddie and Joshua plead.

"Yes." Maureen said with a nod as she laughed. "Right down in the residential deck."

The children cheered and Will grinned looking on toward the series of planets laid before him.

This time, he sensed that Isaac was on one of them and he wasn't going to escape out of their grasps this time around.

He was certain of that as everyone went to the lower decks.

What the most agonizing part about it was to Will; being not certain if his old friend would approach him or run away screaming out of fear.

* * *

Months passed going from planet to planet, until they landed on the fourth planet in the solar system and Will _sensed_ it. He sensed that this was where it was going to end. All the anticipation had crashed like a powerful wave to the ground.

Will lifted himself out of the crash couch then went to the residential deck and pressed a button which opened the door and slide on the laser pistol belt around his waist along with the stun pistol alongside his thigh and Penny joined his side then put a hand on his shoulder.

"This time I am coming along with," Penny said.

"I can do with some company." Will said with a nod.

"Can we go with you, Uncle Will?" Eddie asked as she joined her aunt's side.

Will looked toward Judy.

"It depends on your mother." Will said.

"They have been cooped up for the last three months in this ship." Judy said. "Just make sure to be back in one piece."

"We will, mom." Joshua said.

"We will be on our best behavior." Eddie said.

"Have fun." Maureen called after the children who bolted down the steps. "Dinner will be waiting for you." She took Judy by the hand. "Scary thought, Judy?"

"That it's Will leading the charge to explore?" Judy asked. "Very."

"Bloop!"

"And someone needs to be walked." Maureen said, amused as they looked toward the creature flicking the curtain back and forth. "Camp fever. Judy, take care of Debbie."

"Yes, mother." Judy said then picked up the chimpanzee and cradled her in her arms as the men came down in their uniforms.

"Don," Judy said. "Like to go on a walk?"

"Sure." Don said. "I could do with some."

"And some coffee," John said then Maureen beamed over to his side then handed him a cup full of coffee and the couple went down the stairs. "Thank you, darling."

"You're welcome." Maureen said. "Dinner will be ready in one hour."

John sipped from the cup then looked toward Maureen as his aging features softened.

"Like some help?" John offered.

"Any help will do," Maureen said.

"Just you and me." John said. "For the first time in a long time."

"I can count how many times we have been left alone on this mission together on my hands in this very room." Maureen held her hands up and John laughed.

The mayor finished drinking his cup then set it on the table and proceeded to help Maureen regarding the matter of dinner. 

* * *

The children traveled through the dark searching for the people that they wanted the most. Will froze in his tracks then lifted his hand out stopping the children. Penny stepped forward hearing loud but equally younger laughter that sounded familiar yet it was high pitched. It boomed through the terrain. They walked slowly further at once taking small steps at a time. It was as if at any moment that if they stepped on a twig then the boy could run away and flee from their grasps.

Will walked forward hearing his heart race against his chest holding on to Joshua's hand in his other hand. Will was the first to walk on into the distance following after the source of it. The sound of his own heart beat loudly echoed in his ears as he came to a pause at a dead end formed by a valley then looked down spotting a child playing with a young boy. The child threw his head back in the mist of his laughter being licked by the thin but otherwise healthy domesticated alien dog.

Will looked toward Penny and nodded. 

Penny covered her mouth stifling back tears looking upon the child. 

The child was covered by a large dalmatian that appeared to be alien in nature and covered in spikes on it's back. 

Will directed the children on toward the ledge that lead down from the hill top with a few gestures.

Penny nodded then stayed where she had been. 

* * *

Isaac threw his head back with a laugh as he played with the dog that his mother had insisted to abandon and leave be. The dog whined as it jumped from side to side and wagged its long spiky tail at him. He leaped out then crashed upon the creature and cackled flopping over to his side.

Isaac paused listening to the sound of rocks falling and looked up gazing around the area.

His danger gut feeling began to arose with certain intensity that he stood up to his feet.

He began to run when a deep voice called out,

"Hello."

He felt terrified enough to be frozen where he stood.

"Don't be scared of me. Before you turn around, you have to know. The woman you know as your mother isn't your mother. The reason why you have been running around the galaxies not staying for long in your early childhood is because what she did was illegal. She resurrected you."

"Brought you to life from certain death. She is the reason why you died in the first place. But, she renamed you, she raised you, she told no one of it, you use to be someone I cared about. Even if you are a different person now. I still do care about you, Isaac."

"What is going to happen next is that . . . Is that your mom is going to face her consequences of her actions." The voice started to get closer to Isaac. "And I am sorry for my part in it." His eyes widened. "You wouldn't have died if I had believed you for a full minute."

Silence lingered in the air.

"I should have."

The voice grew silent.

"And I regret it every day."

The owner of the voice sighed.

"I should have done many things differently then and knowing how it could have gone is a certain kind of cruel agony that shouldn't _exist_. I just hope the first thing you remember when you see me is something _good_ instead of the bad."

Isaac slowly turned toward the source of the voice.

It was then that he recognized the face as his eyes flashed open while a memory flashed to.

A memory that had only resurfaced as part of nightmares and he took several steps back.

Being guided by the child to a saucer then strolling back inside along what was presumably his father. A memory that felt as if it had some notable gaps _missing_. But, the gist of it was enough to understand. There were dark and ugly feelings that echoed from the moment.

A nightmare that he could vividly recall after years of dreaming it nightly. He remembered the boy being there as the laser pistol was aimed at him by two men with laser pistols as he had stepped back from them and proceeded to exchange fire. Fire that he had returned in self-defense.

"You betrayed me! You got me killed! You got me killed!"

And Isaac ran away.

"MOTHER! MOOOTHER! MOOTHER! MOOTHER!"

And the stranger was left alone on the verge of tears. _They are going to try to kill me!_ The young boy ran and ran and ran and ran and ran feeling a ache in his heart that had only been brought up to the surface with having seen a face that had once been part of it only years ago. He was shook with terror. _They are going to try to kill me, again! They are gonna try to kill me!_

The boy ran and ran into the night heading for the place that he called home. _That man is lying! I know it! I know it! I know it!_ He smiled at the house ahead of him. _She is my mother! She is! She is! She is!_ He looked over spotting figures running after him then turned away facing the bright lights coming from the house.

"mMOOOOTHER!" Isaac screamed.

He kicked his speed limit up then sprinted for the house. He felt a sting from his back, a sting that he was familiar to---pain, anguish, distress, despair----that he barely had a idea where it came from in his recent childhood. The child fell to the ground with a thud and became unconscious.

The space pod descended and John exited carrying the stun pistol.

"You got him, grandpa." Joshua said with a pant as the older man loomed over the boy.

"Really good." Eddie agreed.

Don loomed over the stunned child then glared at the door.

"Bolix is on his way." John said. "He is five days out."

"Permission to apprehend the woman, mayor?"

"Granted."

"I am not going to kill her." Don charged toward the doorway.

"Children, lift Isaac in." John said as Penny finally arrived. "Penny, we got your message from Will. Get to the ship with the boy, quickly." He handed her the stun pistol. "If he starts to wake up---"

"Stun him." Penny said. 

John looked down toward the boy. 

"It's not worth having him be awake over it." John looked toward the twenty-five year old woman. "He will try to crash--"

"You don't have to explain, daddy." Penny said. "I know him."

John's features eased then he went on following the lieutenant colonel to the door of the house. From behind them, the children lifted Isaac into the space pod and Penny followed suit. Don pressed the door bell then waited until the door was open and---She looked just the way that he had first seen her ten years ago and she froze staring off at him.

Don delivered a sharp punch to the face and knocked her back.

With a groan, she fell then Don stunned her with the stun pistol. 

"Don, let's tie her up." John said, sliding down the rolls of rope from his shoulder. 

Then John helped him drag the woman inside and retrieved the rope slamming the door shut behind them.

* * *

Isaac was put into the freezing tube and frozen for the long trip back. They watched as Bronius was taken into custody by the assistant officers of Bolix and be taken into a craft. Anger, hurt, and bitterness, scorn were directed at the woman who held her head up high as well as her shoulders. A certain wave of relief came over them once John approached his family and gave the nod.

"So we can keep our eyes on him until the space authorities can take him out of our hands."

"Yes. When they come though, we can't be on the bridge. God knows how he will react to seeing us."

"It will be a lot worse than how he had reacted to seeing me, dad. He remembered me being there." Will said. "I know how it will be."

"Strange," Judy said. "We are finally going home as a expanded family. I thought it would be a little smaller when we came to Gamma."

"Life is very chaotic." John said. "We can't expect everything to go the way that we want it to be."

"It will be very different this time around," Don said. "From Tauron, Gamma is just five months away outside of hyper space."

"Five months!" Penny said. "Five months sound so little."

"Very little." Maureen said. "Compared to how long we have been lost in space."

"How long are we going to be in space this time, grandpa?" Joshua asked.

"I was thinking of taking the hyper drive to Tauron and being in hyper space space for eight months, grandson." John said. "If the family approves of it."

"Hyper drive!" The family cheered and the answer was plain as day.

"Let's have a party." Maureen said. "I made some cupcakes for Officer Bolix. . . But, this opportunity will do."

"Cupcakes?" Joshua asked.

"Grandma!" Eddie exclaimed. "Where have you hidden the cupcakes?"

"I haven't seen them or you making them at all." Joshua squinted at her. "Not as you did it while we were sleeping."

"Because certain someones have been keeping you busy!" Judy said, nudging her elbows between Will and Penny.

The family roared with laughter then went inside of the Jupiter 2.

* * *

Will cried in private as he let go of the ugly feelings that had came back up from the boy's words. Once those feelings were over, he felt lighter than he had before. He looked toward the boy from time to time as he went on his shifts. And all the tears by then were gone as he looked at a stranger. And his heart ached for a friend. His heart ached for not just one but two friends.

Two of whom he could have kept and out grown; but he didn't.

He had unknowingly thrown away that opportunity.

And that was the part which hurt him the most.


	26. Chapter 26

Will looked out the window during his shift playing his guitar while Eddie was staring toward the console attentively and Joshua was playing a game in the spare chair between them. The children were providing company to the young man while the family were on the lower decks keeping themselves busy. They had lost and gained more family members to the clan. All of of whom were _irreplaceable._

Eddie looked toward Will as the young man strummed the guitar releasing a sad series of notes.

"So, you miss him." Eddie said.

"I miss _both_ of them, Edvard." Will said.

"Why don't you get him back?" Joshua asked.

"Joshua," Eddie said. "He dead." She pointed up toward the ceiling.

"I know he is dead." Joshua said. "But, you could get the version that isn't dead. Like take a version that isn't quite dead and the others are gone."

Will lowered the guitar listening to Joshua's proposal.

"You are suggesting that I go and steal a Smith?" Will asked.

"No," Joshua said. "I mean, ask him to come along and come home."

"Different from stealing." Will replied.

"Joshy, wouldn't that be a little wrong?" Eddie asked. "We would be interfering in something we shouldn't. And he would only be doing it because he could."

"It's not like we have the technology readily available for it." Joshua said. "I am just suggesting that when a time spatial anomaly opens up before Uncle Will that he should yank him out and be happy."

"And have his pouty face over with." Eddie said.

"It is only a idea." Joshua said.

Will faced the window contemplating the comment weighing the choice quite heavily.

"I don't know about that, Joshua." Will said. "That would be messing with someones continuity."

"Everyone has a different continuity." Joshua said.

"They do," Will said.

"Doctor Smith sounds to be the kind of person that if he were all alone in the Jupiter 2 then he would allow himself to die." Joshua said. "But, if he did that in space then something would happen and stop him from doing it."

"Which means, there is a version of him that ten years older than how he was when he died." Eddie said.

Will looked upon the children with a smile. 

"I wish you knew him," Will said. "And Robot." he chuckled at a memory looking toward the view screen on the verge of tears. "He was a real trooper. Wherever Doctor Smith was, you couldn't find him not long behind him. . . Usually."

"How much of a trooper was Robot?" Eddie asked.

Will chuckled.

"He took everything in stride. Throw anything at him and he would handle it as it were business as usual." Will said, folding his arms, looking back at better times beginning to grow a small smile at a age old memory that had aged well on a black and white film. "That applied to most of the family. He was always that way when we first activated until Doctor Smith's insults hit a nerve and he started biting back."

"Sounds like he were great." Eddie said.

"He was. He was." Will said. "He made us great and all. We are what we are not what we were. . ." Will had a small smirk looking back fondly at a dangerous but endearing memory. "I believe Robot always had a soul that just needed some time being lost to be found and cleaned up."

"You had a excellent childhood." Eddie said as Joshua wiped off tears with Will's offered handkerchief.

"Compared to the one I lead after he was gone," Will shook his head. "Wasn't as great as the old days."

"Were the old days really that fun to you?" Eddie asked.

"It was thrilling, adrenaline running, and risky." Will said. "Most of all. . . fun."

Eddie started to sniffle.

"I want to think it was after most of Robbie the Robot's tech finally settled in and all the other parts we assimilated into him that his soul came to being."

Will looked back, fondly, then he heard Eddie beginning to cry.

"You really loved him." Eddie said.

"Yeah, I did." Will said.

"If he were here," Joshua said. "You would feel great. Just like the old days."

"No," Will shook his head. "Even when he was back? It wouldn't be the good old days." he looked toward the screen tapping his fingers along the console, regretfully. "They're over and those time spatial anomalies are never going to pop up."

Suddenly, the ship groaned and dropped out of hyperspace and the children were thrust forward and crashed to the floor with screams.

Will collapsed to the ground then struggled to lift himself up to his feet. 

His head ached then he fell to the ground as the elevator car lifted up.

And everything seemed to freeze in mid-step in his mind as a [timer started from seven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp1bEpmmGMs).


	27. Chapter 27

The elevator brought John up to the primary deck of the Jupiter 2 then the ship began to tremble from side to side suffering strikes from a unknown enemy. Don was the first to slide the barrier forward then crash against the astronavigator. John flung himself toward the side panel then toward the Jupiter 2 console. He lunged forward toward the console with Don by his side.

"What happened?" Don asked.

"It seems we dropped out of hyper space because of traffic!" John said. 

"Traffic!" Don exclaimed. "That is new, we haven't had that kind of traffic stop in ages---Speaking of traffic accidents," John balanced the ship as the women followed on to the bridge. "This better not be the lower deck whistling."

"It seems like it, now fire!" John said.

"Judy, get the children down to the lower decks!" Don ordered. 

The women got the children up to their feet and to the lower decks. Will was helped up by Penny while Judy and Maureen were holding the two children in their arms bringing them down to the lower decks then placed in their crash couches. The men guided the Jupiter down to the nearest planet following after two ships that were engaged in a firefight.

They looked small in comparison to the Jupiter that swung from side to side dodging the blasts of the ship. The attacker flung out from behind the Jupiter flying toward the craft that was uglier in comparison to the Jupiter 2 with discolored portions of it. It reminded John of the top of a blueberry muffin with portions of it that were raised then watched as the rounded parts flew off the craft.

The craft returned fire in desperation as the Jupiter 2 flew away from the scene heading closer to the planet. The Jupiter 2 came closer to the surface of the planet as everyone buckled in, bracing for a distracting landing as the craft continued on it's marching orders. On the bridge of the chasing craft stood a tall Rambler Crane model fully restored to it's model. Claws tapped on the touch screens setting in the next shots.

The craft on the fleeing fled into the clouds with the model's craft falling through the crafts. He set in a series of commands then went to the landing bay of the craft waiting patiently. Finally, the craft landed with precision to the temporary landing site then the machine rolled on after the crashed vessel. The Jupiter 2 landed across but far from the site. John watched as a explosion erupted from the distance then closed the barrier doors.

Outside, the tall machine wheeled toward the crash site that was a couple hours away from it.

Slowly, it wheeled with cosmic rust and shoot covering their frame.

John stared at it then nodded toward Don and the barrier door was closed.

The people from the crashed ship got out, turned toward the machine and proceeded to run.

"RUN!" The captain screamed.

The small group of survivors fled from the scene, some of them limping, some of them helping each other to their feet.

And the machine slowly but terrifyingly went after them.


	28. Chapter 28

Will awoke the next morning rubbing his head and got out of bed then joined the others at the galley table outside of the ship once having a shower and taking off the gauze. The gauze was thrown into the recycling bin alongside the threshold doorway. The wound that had been from the crash was gone leaving a freshly healed patch of skin that his bright red hair contrasted against. The family were all smiles and grins to see Will back together and functioning as normal.

"What happened?" Will asked.

"We had a bumper collision in hyper space." Don sliced his sausage. "Best I can guess."

"There was a machine chasing after a group of people." John said. "It was. . . Disturbing."

"Tallest machine that I had seen in my life." Don said.

"Dad, Don, that was _Robot_." Will said.

The eyes of the family widened then exchanged glances.

"Why would Robot leave his universe?" Penny asked. "Just to kill a few people."

"Penny, if what you two had heard a few years ago is true then they are morons who won't learn from the mistakes of the past." John said. "People who will never change."

"If they were allowed to exist, just imagine how much darker our continuity would get." The family exchanged grimaces at the prospect from Don's commentary. "It would be worse than how Doctor Smith's presence did to our world."

"He was a thin slice of pumpkin pie compared to them." Maureen said.

"But dark, regardless." John said. "He didn't cause the problem of the Kavalarians to become what it was. It was the anti-matter Don. What Smith's presence did for that matter was make it a very chaotic experience."

"Isn't what he is?" Will asked. "A master of chaos?"

"Yes." John said. "We were lucky."

"Very," Maureen agreed.

"Somehow, I don't think it was Eglardo's fault that Robot came to our universe." Penny said.

"A time spatial anomaly." Will said.

"Exactly." John said.

"What do we do about the other Robot?" Penny asked.

"We do nothing." John said. "He is on a mission. And once that is completed, he will retire into a tunnel and blend in with our world."

"Why?" Eddie asked. "Why go to a cavern? Why not attempt to go home?"

"Edvard," Will said. "It is because that Robot has hope that things are going to be better. That next time he is needed then it will be for a better purpose. A purpose that isn't for killing other life forms. But, to protect them or educate them for that matter."

"He doesn't have a home." Joshua said.

"His term of home is different." John said. "He is a nomad."

"What is a nomad?" Eddie asked.

"Someone who travels from place to place," Penny said. "For life forms, it is to find greener pastures."

"OOoooh," Eddie said with a nod.

"Thankfully," John started to say. "Robot is far away from here so we can spend awhile here and do some minor repairs on the parts that his fire unexpectedly hit."

"Can we look at Robot?" Eddie asked.

"Robot doesn't look like himself and isn't acting himself." Will said. "I wouldn't approach him if I were you."

"Promise me that you won't." Don said.

"We promise." Eddie replied.

"We promise," Joshua said, crossing his fingers beneath the table.

"Good." Don said.

"We can do some surveys from the area that they haven't gone in." John said. 

"So you can explore, hmm, that way---" Don pointed away from the crash site of the ship. "For the next forty-eight hours."

"And is uncle Will going to explore with us, again?" Eddie asked.

"What's so bad about rock hunting with family?" Will asked.

"You make it no fun about the strange looking rocks." Eddie said.

"Those were turds." Will said. "Not rocks."

"And those relics---"

"Were not relics, Eddie." Will cut her off. "Those were traps. I have lived in space since I was a kid. In fact, I spent five hundred years watching a friend set all those kind of traps off to disastrous but amusing and chaotic results." Penny began to laugh as her shoulders shook as the positive feelings flourished through her then looked up toward Will with rosy cheeks.

"Remember how Robot would warn us before they were set off?" Penny asked.

"That part is hard to forget." Will said, beginning to smile. "We listened to him."

"But Doctor Smith hadn't." Penny said.

"Remember, Will, that one time Robot told Doctor Smith there were piranhas in the lake and Doctor Smith went in anyway after arguing about it?" Judy asked.

"And how he came back with them nipping at his heels?" Penny asked as the family began to laugh at the fond memory.

"I remember," Don said. "He was shrieking like a little girl struggling to keep his oversized trunks up."

"That is a vividly real memory that comes at me from time to time," Will said. 

"Remember how Robot had to electrocute them to send the piranhas back to the water?" Don asked.

"Poor, poor, poor fish." Penny shook her head as their laughter started to die down.

"Which version was this?" Eddie asked.

"The original version." Maureen said. "The golden age version. The one who never got to come home with us."

"Children, no matter how tempting it may be to approach Robot . . ." Judy began to warn changing the subject. "When he is intent on a mission then you shouldn't get involved." she held up her index finger. "He will only get you hurt if you get in the way."

"What about after he is done?" Eddie asked.

"That is a different matter." John said. "But, we need you to wait for two days for him to blend in."

"Why two days, grandpa?" Joshua asked.

"Unlike Doctor Smith, Robot isn't being mutated." John said. "Robot was willing to befriend others and help them when his missions were done."

"Here, at least." Will said. "Dad, if he is anti-matter then he could be a 'punk' as Robot said."

"We will find out what kind of alternate anti-matter version that he is upon our own discovery. If he has a red or green grill." John said. "If he has a red grill and still killed people, that is a whole new anti-matter world." he waved his spoon in mid-air. "Identical to the pro-matter except for a few minor differences."

"A whole new ballpark." Don said.

"And very unexpected," John said with a nod. "Just as Smith was."

And the family resumed eating.


	29. Chapter 29

"Since we got the metal ore decided, we can get the bed of deutronium searched for tomorrow morning." John said. " _After_ breakfast."

"Sounds like a adventure waiting to happen." Will grinned.

"Sure does." John agreed. "How about you and I do the search tomorrow? Don and the children have been meaning to have some quality time."

"I love to." Will replied. "I love to, dad. We haven't done that. . ."

"Hardly ever." John said. "You're a man, now. A full grown man. And it's time that you become part of the routine."

"Good night, old man." Will said.

"Good night, my little prince." And John ducked into the shared cabin with Maureen.

Then Will went into his cabin to retire in for the night with the thought, _I am a grown up. It's all I ever wanted. . ._ He closed the door behind him. _But, I am not happy about it._

* * *

Joshua slipped out of bed then wandered out of his cabin. He looked from side to side then crept forward toward the doorway that was most silent and preferable to make his escape. Joshua took a few steps forward until he heard a door close behind him. The hair rose all over his skin then he turned in the direction of the source and his heart race until he saw Eddie.

Eddie put a finger between her lips then held out solar flashlights from behind her back and smiled. Joshua looked up then grinned facing his younger sister as he started to relax. The siblings began to grin then quietly made their way to the hallway as the door silently closed behind them.

"Did you really think I would let you go all alone?" Eddie asked.

"You are a rule stickler and you do scream at scary things." Joshua reminded. "And so fragile. Anything ordinary makes you faint."

"Like you did with the scarecrow that we set up a week before we launched?" Eddie asked. "Who's the fragile one, now?" She faked a swoon. "Oh, fainting like a wayward prince." and gently sent herself falling to the ground with dramatics in a condescending manner. Joshua glared down toward her folding her arms looking upon her with a displeased expression. "Whatever should I do?"

"That wasn't there when I came in," Joshua said.

"You are oblivious, brother." Eddie said, with Joshua's help getting her up to her feet. "It was always there."

"And so are you!" Joshua said.

"Ssssh," Eddie pressed a button and the door to the bridge was open. "We are not in the clear," her blonde pig tails flicked Joshua's face with a shake of her head. "Yet."

Joshua rubbed his nose with a frown.

"I'll be quiet."

"Come on, big squirt."

The siblings crept to the doorway of the airlock then took out two laser pistols and two belts that were then wrapped around their waist. They closed the door behind them then went through the force field that was being generated. They made a bolt for it through the landscape that had been forbidden only hours ago with a tinge of laughter that echoed behind them.


	30. Chapter 30

Robot tore after the crowd of survivors firing them down one at a time and performing the final blow that expired their form. Once, he used to be a protector. Once, he was reprogrammed to be a executor of a family's fates. Once, he was apologetic about it after the fact.

Once, he used to be one who believed that what had been done to bring him down a dark and bitter path was the right way. A path that proved to be lonesome, a terrible ordeal, and one that would be called a horror movie when it came to humans in his position.

He replayed the chain of events that lead him into this position and how he paralleled against the moment that decided the fate of his first family. A fate that they had made for themselves. And the agony that had left long ago had returned.

It was the cruel kind of agony that made everything a thousand times more painful than what they were. A thousand times more painful to go against his programming and perform murder. The agony left hundreds of years ago but this certain path had brought it back to the surface and it hurt. It hurt as though he had a engine leak when he did not. And, the twist of fate, turned into a hunter was the cruelest kind of agony going against his programming.

He cornered them in the dead end.

"Please, don't kill us!" The captain plead.

"You are a **DANGER** to **EVERY** planet **YOU STEP FOOT** on." Robot emphasized.

"That's you!" The captain argued.

"You are a **PLANET KILLER**!"

"You are killing people!" The captain retorted.

"How many planets have to die because of fossil fuels?" Robot wheeled closer to them. "HOW MANY?"

The captain was silenced.

"How many animals have to be driven to extinction!" The answer was demanded but there was no answer as the machine rolled closer. "Burned alive by forest fires, boiled alive by extreme heat, children struggling to breathe and developing asthma that kills them because **YOU** make it **EXPENSIVE**."

"Everything has it's cost-"

"You want them to die because they are weak and only the strong are to survive. Is that correct?"

"Correct."

The long arms raised up and aimed at the crowd.

"Alpha Prime A was your second chance and you killed it in two hundred years instead of using renewable energy!"

"That has little money to make off of!"

"According to the people who are living well off solar energy on Terra Nova, there is a lot to capitalize on!"

Eddie gasped.

"The sun was your friend and you ignored her!" he rolled closer to the crowd. " **IGNORED HER**."

The crowd came closer to the dead end.

"We like the old way! It's preferable! It's something we can live off!"

"There are such things as back up solar generators, CEO Carl." Robot said, bitterly.

The captain's face fell as did the crowd of humans huddled together.

"None of this computes." Continued the rambler crane model. "This is not what the Robinsons died for. You are leading the effort to use fossil fuels to kill a planet on the third try to do better. You will not live to continue to lead that effort."

Then the humans were killed during screams over the laser plasma blasting. The children watched the machine's arm transform into shovels then create a large hole for the corpses. Gently, the machine laid them side by side into the hole. His arms carefully cradled their corpses as if he were holding delicate packing that needed to be handled correctly.

Robot came to a pause then looked down upon the sole surviving member.

The only young one of them all who wasn't a adult.

His sensors indicated it was a six year old child.

Robot finished smoothing over the grave of the deceased then turned toward the child.

"You will have a better tomorrow." Robot said. "I will make sure of it." He picked up the toddler into his arms. "You will grow up with clean air, have the chance to have a pet, to live your natural life span, to be human, and stare at clear blue skies. I promise."

The child blew bubbles and the machine let out a mechanical laugh.

"I will find you a space faring family who will love you and protect you." Robot said. "I promise, we won't spend long around each other. I pray that we do not need to cross paths. . ."

Robot whirred toward the source of what he detected to be two life forms.

"Exactly what I need!" Robot twirled. "Hold on, little dummy."

"Dum dum bam bam bam!"

"No, dumb dumb."

"Dumb dumb dumb bam bam bam!"

"Dumb dumb dumb pew pew pew. PEW PEW PEW."

"DUMB DUMB DUMB UGLY!"

"No, you are."

"YOU ARE!"

"YOU ARE!"

"Dumb dumb dummy!"

"You're the dummy!"

"No, you are the dummy!"

"Your parents are dummies."

"DUMMY!"

Robot wheeled through the landscape as his nanobots changed his figure over the long path following after the two life forms arguing with the child at free will He could hear distinctive sounds of two children from ahead of him sounding to be scared. He changed his figure and shrunk in size; lowering his threat levels, he remembered how other people reacted to him, in terror and fear, as if he were Death incarnate themselves.

"DUMMY IS A SCAREDY CAT!"

"Dummy? Who's the dummy? I am not the dummy!"

"Dummy dumb dumb."

"You remind me of someone that I used to know." Robot added with a soft laugh. And it felt good to laugh.

The child waved their hands at him.

"Dummy!"

He came to a massive saucer craft laid ahead of him and he detected the figures going into the craft. The door closed behind him. He detected brain waves that were in the mist of dreaming numerous situations, dancing, singing, laughter, saucers, and a party. He wheeled closer to the craft then picked up a small pebble carrying the small child in his arms.

"Dummy."

Robot yanked up a small kangaroo mouse and handed it to the child.

"Thank you. Cuuuutee! Ahhh! cuuuteee!"

Robot was bemused as he chucked rock after rock at the entrance door.

"Roo, come back! Roo, come back! ROOO-"

The door opened revealing a short young man.

"Come on, Eddie, Joshy, that isn't funny." He paused then stared at the machine and began to smile.

"Can you please take care of this child and find him a proper family to raise him?"

"S. . . Sure. . . Sure, I can do that." He stared in awe as Robot sent the child down and running forward toward the older man. "I got you."

"Big dummy?"

"Yes, I am a big dummy." The red head picked up the toddler into his arms with a laugh and a smile then looked on toward him. "Does he have a name?"

"I do not want to become attached to a child that I have orphaned." Robot said.

"Do you have a name?" the young man asked.

"M-Ma-m-Ma-Makin."

"Inform your other family units that I will not pose any harm to them and will not be around." Robot informed.

It was a long moment before the young man was able to reply.

"I am sure they understand with what you had to do to his family." the young man said.

"Regretful, it is." Robot agreed. "Good-bye."

Robot turned away then began to wheel away.

"How does it feel to kill people?"

"I cannot answer that."

"Sure you can."

"Your mind waves are similar to a someone I grew up with . . . but _different_."

"How different?"

"You are happy and sad but optimistic and hopeful. My mind wave detection equipment reports no resentment, bitterness, and fury. . ."

"But, still as optimistic and hopeful."

"Affirmative." His helm twirled. "A bit cynical. We tried to make sure he had the best kind of childhood there was. . . Me? To keep him alive." he turned away from the young man. "Selfish reasons. To ensure that I fulfilled my mission. Protecting a Robinson attempting to colonize Alpha Prime A and making a time machine was part of it."

Robot sighed.

"Instead, it got him killed as the planet imploded. I failed a second time after detecting his mind waves cease." Robot elaborated. "He died as a thirteen year old and I was in the Jupiter 2 getting a new software update. I wasn't there by a attack launched by the Kavalarians's cadet force. I let Doctor Smith go. Had he stuck around, I wouldn't have gotten a late update when we were on. . ."

Robot was trembling with rage.

"Had I pointed out what they were doing to him then we would have _all_ gotten to Alpha Prime A." Robot went on wheeling back and forth. "And that is the most **frustrating** but heartbreaking part of this all."

He turned toward the younger man.

"I could have accomplished my mission!" Robot shouted. "but instead. . ." his voice lowered in shame. "I allowed the Robinsons to die with my compliance trying to do right with Doctor Smith. I should have done him right a different way. And instead made him feel comforted and human."

Robot struggled to synthesize the sound of clearing one's throat before resuming.

"I have computed a simulation of how things could have gone with information from my timeline and a theory it could have been on better terms on our relationship. We would have fled, lived, extracted Doctor Smith from the trouble and resumed on the present course to Alpha Prime A after a extraction mission where we had tried to negotiate for his release and go in after him. "

"The other Will I had known, the child, wouldn't have done it. It was unlike Will that I knew. It was almost like I were around a badly written person with the name Will Robinson. Then again, he was a entirely different person from the child who went out with Doctor Smith to search for his father and Major West."

"Well, that was in character of him to directly disobey orders, but, then. . . this version was disgusted with monsters in general. As if, a entire character shift had happened that day. As if . . . Things went _wrong_."

His helm twirled with a orange glow from within and between the pillars of metal.

"If I could have told him he wasn't being himself and made him see through his bias then he would be alive and I wouldn't be here in the first place."

Robot paused then turned away.

"Who am I kidding. " Robot said. "I would have came here. _Anyway._ "

The young man listened intently.

"But a immoral man seeking immortality and going to great lengths-I wouldn't have been alone. Knowing him, he would have gotten his memory engrams encoded into a hologram that would have been stuck to me!"

He started to cackle as he rolled in circles, loudly, that turned into mechanical bemused laughter that turned into weeping and sobbing that grew quiet. The man across from him took a step forward. Robot generated a handkerchief then sobbed into it making the sounds of sneezing and waved the dark fabric in the air as he continued.

"I should have known on the first shift that the Robinsons were not going to last long with Will walking out on Doctor Smith."

Robot blew his bubble into the handkerchief then flicked it and it was gone in a matter of seconds.

"I was supposed to be their protector. I tried to destroy them. I was stopped and reprogrammed by Will Robinson and turned my function to protector." Robot said, somberly, his helm lowering. "I ended up destroying them, _anyway_ , unwittingly."

The younger man reached his hand as he got closer toward Robot then gently placed his hand on the back of the machine's chassis carrying Makin in one arm.

"That is the worse kind of agony than the one we wrote for ourselves, Robot."

Robot spun out of the young man's grasp and wheeled toward him as his helm bobbed up.

"You did that out of the kindest intentions." His words were gentle, kind, and compassionate. "I am sure they forgive you for that part of their demise." His words grew softer. "And how you tried to help him, Doctor Smith came around to forgiving you for allowing him to become the way that he was."

"How do you know?" Robot asked.

"He was here for awhile. Then, this time, he left out of love. Not to save his own skin."

"Who are you?"

Robot backed away from the younger man as Makin reached his large hands after the machine and Robot sounded _afraid_.

"You know who I am. You've always known. You said so yourself, our mind waves are similar."

Robot wheeled away.

"No."

He stepped closer toward the machine that wheeled into the dark.

"I am Will Robinson of the colony Earthship Jupiter 2. It's nice to see you, old friend."

He wheeled further into the dark.

"No." Robot said.

"Robot, why do you look so, different?" Will asked.

"Because I happen to have nanobots." Robot replied, simply.

"Really suits you being able to change at will." Will stepped closer. "Must be a gift."

And Robot wheeled away into the night leaving Will behind.

"Dummy!" Makin cried. "Dumb dumb, come back, dumb dumb!"

Will cradled the child in his arm.

"I'll wait for you." Will said with a small smile. "Just as I did for Doctor Smith. You'll become part of my life when you're ready."

Will turned away then returned into the Jupiter 2 and closed the door behind him with the press of a button as his smile transformed to a grin.

"Let's get you to bed, little munchkin."

Will tickled the boy's arm pits and the child cackled throwing his head back as Will went toward the corridor.

* * *

"And he left Makin in your custody?" John asked the following morning.

"Yep." Will said.

Will looked toward the six year old at the long table seated between Joshua and Eddie. Judy was giggling at the six year old playing airplane with his spoon of cereal. It was turning into a difficult battle for Maureen not to react as she ate that turned into a playful smile and Don grew a smile at the child.

"We have to take him back where he came from." John said.

"Or when." Don said. "If we take him back now, it might be ten years after Smith left."

"Ten years." Maureen shook her head as she poured herself a glass of milk at the breakfast table. "It seems so little."

"There is only one person who would be capable of sending the child forward in time to where they need to be." John said. "How far are we from Tauron, Don?"

"Last telemetries reported that we are two weeks away from the planet." Don said. "The only trouble is getting back to our time."

"We can ask Eglardo to make a version for the ship." Penny spoke up as she took a bite from her egg omelet then chewed and swallowed. "One that is easily breakable after the trip back."

"I don't get it, Grandpa." Eddie said. "If we can do that, then why not bring Robot back to his timeline?"

"Joshua, his continuity brought him here and his choice alone brought him here." John said. "Much as I like to bring him back to his timeline that would be a battle in which we lose."

"We have already lost as it is." Don noted.

"Or he gets vaporized to prevent the loss of any more lives." Judy said then reminded. "He is more effective at killing people as you have said, Eddie."

"He is." Eddie said. "But. . . If he doesn't belong, if he makes this place darker, shouldn't we put him back? Why are you all certain that he won't?"

"Hope is a very powerful force for someone like Robot." Don said. "In time, he will find it difficult to revert back to his restored form. Once you embrace hope and keep it burning, you can't go back to way that you had been before. You fight for it. And you strive to make sure that you don't lose it a second time."

"Robot knows where the new colony is," Penny ended the long silence at the breakfast table. "We need his help."

"But how?" Maureen asked. "He is full of guilt, regret, and bitterness."

"Lots of it." Don agreed.

Maureen looked aside at the facts that had been presented to her by her son shifting her gaze toward Will.

"He is afraid of repeating history."

"History is repeating." Will said. "But this time, the cycle is broken. He doesn't need to go back. There are no consequences." he finished eating his breakfast. "The only cycle part of this cycle that is intact is regarding the beginning."

"And that is it." John said with a grin.

"Very." Will replied with a nod. "Only problem is, dad; drawing Robot into our lives."

"That does pose a obstacle." John admitted.

"It is." The family nodded in agreement.

"With Smith, we had to bump into his orbit." John went on. "We had to have the police not go to him and finish their part of the deal."

"It was a miracle that they didn't." Don said

"With Smith, he went through the justice system and the system used him for their own means." John said. "With Robot, he is hiding and there is no one interested in using him which will run our way."

"Unless someone finds him and asks for his help." Judy said.

"That is the only way that we can get him." John said. "and we don't need his help. . ."

"Right now." Penny reminded.

"Except we do have a crashed ship from his continuity outside that needs to be destroyed." Maureen pointed out.

"That ship is the most threatening part of our existence," John said. "Just imagine if someone gets their hands on it and puts it back together." The members of the family looked at the image with a wince except for Joshua and Eddie who wondered wild results. "What they would do with it if it doesn't change to how it would look like here."

"We should try that." Judy suggested. "Touch it. And see if it would change for us from there."

"If it doesn't," John said. "Then we need to get Robot."

"Then he direct us to the colony Makin should go to!" Penny said.

"I like the sound of that." Don said, with a grin. 

The family grinned and resumed eating all except for Will got left the table with his plate empty. Joshua and Will looked on from the table toward the crash site ahead of the family. Will looked on toward the ship, wondering, then went inside to the Jupiter 2 and went into the bathroom to use the restroom. He saw a young man instead of a thirteen year old. A young man who had a stubble that Will had wanted for centuries.

He picked up the space razor then carefully cleaned his face until it were all but gone leaving him clean shaven and he felt lighter. He cleaned the razor then dumped the contents into the bin. He put away the razor back where it belonged into the shelf below then gazed at himself.

He had a feeling that things were going to get better than how they were.

All he needed to do was to trust the events that lead Robot back to him.

As soon as he returned up the lower decks, Will was greeted by his father.

"Ready to get the Chariot out for the fuel?" John asked. 

"I have been ready since last night." Will replied with a grin.

* * *

Makin spent several hours being chased by Don, Judy, and the children while Maureen watched on leaning against the doorway of the Jupiter 2 with a smile and her arms folded in warmth watching the children go into the distance as the child was playing with pots and pans.

She giggled turning away walking back into the Jupiter 2 and paused in her tracks. 

Maureen spotted the ten year old in the freezing tube with his eyes squeezed shut, wincing, terrified.

The happiness faded the moment that she saw Isaac.

"Doctor Smith . . " Her features softened at the child.

Reminded her of the first time they put Smith inside prior to the first crash landing and did not intend to free him-- Robot's doing -- but _this time_ they had every intention of freeing him. Perhaps with every intention of making sure that he lived and got to experience the passage of time. This time, Robot wasn't going to awaken him. This time, a social worker was going to wake him up. 

The trust issues were there just as last time had been for them. It took Papis Four to regain that trust, tentatively, with the younger Smith. And showed how difficult it would be just for the child, Maureen realized, having dreams of what lead to his original demise. He was a child who deserved trusting the people around him as he grew up.

The look on her shaken son's face when he returned to the Jupiter 2 that night only some time ago broke her heart. It was fresh on her mind. Just as fresh as the boy finally coming to and shrieking once he saw what he had been shoved to by Don, thrashing, scratching, desperately. She turned her mind away from the memory of heartbreak in which she guided the children into the corridor out of the way quickly.

Will had dropped all his composure after his father left for the space pod to retrieve Isaac in the memory that clung to her mind. It was emotional hurt that she mended on with a long hug as he cried silently. And the hurt that Maureen got after the heartbreaking moment with Isaac was mended with a hold of John's hand.

"How things have turned out."

Maureen shook her head.

"You? In that tube. . ." She approached the freezing tube. "It won't be for long."

She put a hand on the glass freezing tube looking down in regret with how things had turned out.

"I know it won't be."

And Maureen smiled, hopefully.


	31. Chapter 31

Robot hid in a tunnel awaiting for the next hapless explorer. He waited in the dark taking on his original form that he had awakened in so long ago. It felt like a very long time ago than what it had been. He detected three life forms (one of them had a familiar mind wave) headed his way carrying highly advanced laser pistols. Robot raised up the plasma blasters installed to his side.

"Destroy me and I will destroy you with my atomic engine."

A man walked forward.

"Hello, I am Mayor John Robinson of Alpha Centauri City," John said. "You can lower your weapons. We came armed as a precaution that you were not alone."

Robot lowered his arms down and depowered his plasma blasters.

"State your purpose." Robot said.

"The refugee ship that you came with needs to be destroyed. If . . ."

"If what?" Robot inquired.

"If you want to." John said.

"This is not a order." Robot noted.

"It's a question, Robot." John said.

"Are you sure that you are not Professor Robinson, Mayor Robinson?" Robot asked.

John fondly smiled at the familiar voice greeting him with the familiar tone.

Robot was so different in terms of appearance but in his soul and voice; he was just the same person.

Different appearance, same character; just like Smith. It was strange to know that he were inches away from a counterpart of someone he had once lived with day in and day out who stood taller than he did and still was taller than he ever was unlike Smith who's height was different. Stark differences, physically. He observed that under the red large button were what seemed to be a familiar rounded helm with long metal beams in it.

And the mayor elected to not answer the question.

"I have known you long enough to be aware that you have free will, Robot." John said. "You decide if you wish to defy my orders or follow them." John took tentative steps forward then lifted the solar flashlights up and stared in awe as the other men lifted the solar flashlights up. "You always have."

"I will only destroy the ship." Robot said.

"We expect nothing less." John said.

"I detected your ship was highly advanced." Robot said. "Why do you not handle it yourself?"

"We can't destroy large crafts with vaporizers, Robot." Don approached the mayor's side. "We can destroy small ones like shuttles, pods, beasts, and humans."

"This computes." Robot replied. "You are required to be far away as possible from the site."

"How far?" John asked.

"Far. Far. Far. Far away." Robot said.

"Specify, please." Will said, softly.

"A hundred kilometers." Robot replied. "I will wait a hour for this clearing."

"We got enough fuel to do that," Don said.

"How long do we need to be away?" John asked.

"A week." Robot replied.

"Let's get the Jupiter 2 ready for the hundred kilometer flight." John said then walked on with Will.

Don stared at the machine. 

"Do not pity me." Robot said.

"I can't help it." Don said.

"Why?" Robot asked.

"Because . . . You tried to do what was right and you failed." Don said. "I know that with this wall you have made yourself, you won't fail."

Don turned away then walked on from the scene leaving Robot alone.

* * *

"Hey, grandpa! Mom! Dad! Uncle! Grandma!"

Eddie came running back to the Jupiter 2 around two hours after beginning to explore over the bemusement of the family. She was holding a magnifying glass in her hand as she came running toward them.

"Eddie, there you are!"

"What has you caught up in such a hurry?"

"I found a forest! And there is another Jupiter 2 and I found a space pod---"

"Eddie, did you go in to the forest?" Judy cut her off as everyone became silent staring back at Eddie.

"Yes, well, sort of no." Eddie said. "There was this old strange man talking to a lady in pink and purple--" Maureen stopped what she was doing as she was cutting her sausage lifting her gaze up toward John. "and to himself, sort of."

"What do you mean by sort of?" Judy asked.

"He was really scared."

Will looked on from the direction that Eddie had came as it floored him. In the next few moments, Will got up from the table then went inside of the ship. He went to the weapons rack then unhooked the laser pistol and wrapped the laser pistol belt around his waist. He took out a sheet of paper then jotted down the coordinates to Alpha Centauri, unzipped his pocket, then finished adding a short note below the coordinates, folded it, slipped it into his pocket.

"Will. . ." John said. "If you go in and interfere in their continuity, things won't go the way it is supposed to."

"I get the feeling that Doctor Smith won't appear in that one since Eddie appeared." Will said.

"How are you sure that her appearance didn't happen in ours?" John asked.

"He never mentioned about seeing Eddie during our walk back to the Jupiter 2." Will said. "I remember our last conversation. I remember it very well. Before he shunned me, before he gave me the cold shoulder, before he acted as though I didn't exist and it's hard not to forget."

John nodded, ruefully.

"That was a very tough time."

"So." Will said. "This time spatial anomaly is still there. I sense it."

"Sense it or feel it in your gut?"

"It's a feeling, dad." Will replied. "You don't have to be part of this."

"She is going to endanger our family after you make your appearance." John said. "I have to be part of it and I have to make sure she doesn't pose any more harm."

"And Doctor Smith won't make that resurrection machine." Will said. "Dad, are you sure about taking her life?" Will asked.

"Bronius became a monster when she boarded the Jupiter 2 not once but twice." John said. "We can't be seen by Smith."

"That will be easy to do." Will said. "We got lots of trees to prevent from being seen."

"Those trees. . ." John said. "I didn't know we were there back here, again." John grimaced at the thought that crossed his mind. "Back where it all started."

"Where he died." Will nodded.

"Where we almost died, too." John said. "If I kill her then Smith won't die and if we prevent Smith's demise then we stop Robot's death."

"Dad, they have to know if they ever want the happy ending what has to be done." Will said. "Where they have to go."

"They won't listen to us, Will." John said. "They are very careful people."

"We were that way back then, weren't we?" Will asked.

"We were," John said. "Tell your mother that we will be away for a little while."

Will sported a grin then nodded and went out of the ship joining the rest of the family. John put on the laser pistol belt that was smaller and less longer than Will's laser rifle holster. John went up the deck then joined the small group of his family. They went on several paces away from the Jupiter 2 getting further and further until John saw the familiar forest standing out before his eyes. Will put his hand on Eddie's shoulder then beckoned her to go home.

The young girl complied then the father and son took their weapons out staring at the large green forest that waited ahead of them. John was the first to go in leading the charge into the forest. They went further and further. John hid behind a tree then so did Will seeing themselves come along the path leading to their Jupiter 2. John was the first to come from the forest then aimed at the area around them.

With a press of a trigger, John started a new chain of events. He hid behind the tall tree safely before his counterpart could take a look at him as the older man panicked then fled on from the group into the forest terrified. Will took his back off from the tree line then returned hide and hid back behind the trees as he heard his younger counterpart call out for the doctor. John fled through the treeline ahead of him going in the direction that the group had came from.

"Doctor Smith, come back!"

Will came from his tree then fired and hid oncemore. 

"Will, return to the Jupiter 2! NOW!"

"Yes, sir!"

Will watched as his father's younger counterpart hid behind a tree and return fire. Will looked on spotting a wider tree and hid behind it in the nick of time as the older man returned fire. Will ducked then put his back against the tree bark and slid the laser rifle into the laser rifle holster. He turned away from the greenery ahead and faced the direction of his father's counterpart. He waited until John came from a tree then looked on.

"Why did you fire at us?"

"Doctor Smith was in trouble." Will said.

"Will?" John said as a flash of recognition flickered in his eyes.

Will slowly approached him.

"And you were endangering the family." Will said. "Don't worry about it. The source of the danger is being taken care of." Will grinned then swung the laser rifle over his shoulder then unzipped his pant pocket and took out a slip of paper. "Here, you need this."

"I can't accept this." John returned the paper to Will.

"You have to." Will said.

"Why?" John asked.

"Because . . ." Will started. "Have you heard of the Kavalarians?"

"I have." John nodded.

"The only way to keep it that way is by going to Alpha Centauri." Will said.

"What happened?" John asked.

"Five hundred years passed after this event then the real nightmare began and it was the most agonizing one that we ever had."

"You lost Robot and Smith." John noted.

"I didn't say that." Will shook his head.

"I know you, Will." John said. "Was it Smith's fault?"

"No." Will said as John became confused. " _Ours_."

John's features fell.

"Our fault?" John asked as the older John arrived to the space pod then lifted the laser rifle toward Bronius, somberly, silently, then drew her attention with a whistle. "How can that be?"

Bronius faced the older John then was summarily executed.

"We didn't listen to either of them." Will said. "And now, they are gone forever."

The older John walked over to the space pod then dragged Bronius out of the space pod and further into the greenery. The older John looked down then spotted a trap a foot ahead of him. John slid the corpse into the hole then went over toward a tree. He fired at the tree until the large branches collapsed to the grass. He dragged the tree branches over until a makeshift grave was assembled.

"Will, you look. . ."

"Older." Will chuckled. "Still in shock of that myself."

"How?"

"We went back to the time lab with a new member to the family." Will said.

"Will. . ." John said. "With this interfering that you have done; it won't happen the way it did before."

"He is not going to come here this time around with what time traveling meddling that he has done." Will assured with a small bittersweet smile. "But, this time he will be happier and so will we. But, in the mean time, wait awhile before ordering him into the freezing tube after this experience. You might just find he will be the same old Doctor Smith that you knew before."

Will handed the paper into the professor's hand then turned away.

"Eddie, why are you here?"

"Is the old man okay?" Eddie asked.

Will's concern melted away as he started to smile looking down upon her.

"That was Doctor Smith. The man that I told you about." Will approached the young girl then put a hand on her shoulder. "That was him before he died."

The younger professor walked away then looked toward the direction of the younger girl looking in the direction that Will was pointing in with a tinge of sorrow on her face. He walked on ahead of them heading for the Jupiter 2 as his counterpart rejoined the group.

The trio went back the same way that they had came into the scenery.

The desert was replaced by a sea of greenery as the anomaly ended.

* * *

Things were slowly going back to normal, except for the existence of the coordinates, except for the discussion the professor shared with the family, except for Smith coming back three days later in the middle of a evening tentatively with tatters of trust and uncertainty walking through the doorway to the Jupiter 2 as his panic was all over the place with a tremble even after the Robinsons were convinced that his space rapture episode was over and his new found friend was gone.

It's only when the professor asks why the doctor trembles, once the older man relaxed, as the older man laughed that he gets the reply, _"I overheard you discussing putting me into stasis, dear professor!"_ Smith's figure trembled with laughter. _"Thought you were being serious. I should take a bad joke at face value."_

And as the older man passed by him heading for the residential deck after the boy; it's only then, did the professor realize, the ingredients of a tragedy had been sowed and weeded out.

Smith had over heard their family conversation regarding what to do about him.

* * *

In a year; they reached Alpha Centauri, whole and happy.

A month later, Smith vanished and the particle machine was missing.

And time proceeded to march on but Robot refused to say what had happened with the following: " _Orders, Professor Robinson_."

After weeks of searching, they found the machine but it was destroyed and burned beyond repair.

* * *

Within hours of searching for anything left behind, a letter was found and it read:

_My choice to give you time. I'm selling five years for you, Professor Robinson. I don't anticipate returning but I suspect Doctor Chronos needs some help catching up with the tapes. Remember me, kindly. Or pay a visit if you like from time to time. Good-bye._

_Sincerely, Doctor Smith._

It wasn't quite painful knowing what his ultimate fate was.

It was kinder and bitter the way that Smith had woven his future into; unharmed by the outside world, immortal, carrying on being a assistant to Doctor Chronos as he were certain that the people that he loved and cared about were aging. It wasn't agonizing that they could pop in for a visit at any time. What was agonizing was his lack of presence. What hurt the most was outgrowing Smith and the man being unable to age alongside the children as they aged between visits.

Until they couldn't visit him no more.

And Robot was the only member that joined him in the lab.

_That_ was the cruel kind of agony as Smith and Robot became a relic of what once had been.


	32. Chapter 32

Three days passed since the event in which they changed the past to their counterparts. Will was seated at the table slowly spinning the blue cup in circles late at night. He ran over the chain of events that lead him into this position. The ending that he thought waited ahead of him was only a distant fantasy that was part of his childhood.

It was a thought that reminded him every day that his dream became a fantasy instead of a reality. A fantasy in which the family arrived to Alpha Centauri whole, aged, intact, and ready to start the colonizing process.

"Uncle?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, Eddie?" Will turned his attention toward the sleepy young girl.

"I can't sleep." Eddie rubbed at her eyes. "Why are you still awake?"

"Insomnia." Will replied.

"What is insomnia?" Eddie asked.

"The inability to sleep. Has been happening for the last few weeks. . . Been _trying_ to sleep, anyway." Will said then he smiled looking aside at a nostalgic memory that crossed his mind with tense but bleak music playing in the background. "Turns out, I am just really good at it more than I had thought that I was."

"Why?" Eddie asked.

"It comes and goes." He took another sip from the cup. "Maybe, it's because nothing is right and it shouldn't be that way and I don't know how to fix it. Normally, I do." Then, he let go of a small shrug. "But, I don't."

"Why?" Eddie asked.

Will fell quiet.

"I am scared that it is going to happen again." Will said.

It was quiet between them then Eddie went over and took out a small cup of water then joined Will.

"That is a road block when when it regards a problem that you make and have a chance in repeating it." Eddie agreed then softly whistled at his problem as though it were a towering mess in on itself.

"Very much." Will said. "I have not encountered that road block often in space."

"I can imagine." Eddie nodded. "Listen, uncle. . . Take as long as you need to mull it over it, reconcile, and get out of the mud pit. Because right now, you're not ready to fix your problem. Mommy calls that guilt."

Will grew a grin in response to Eddie's comment.

"She does." Will replied with a laugh. "How about we go on a walk outside?"

"I would love that, uncle!" Eddie said, eagerly.

"Put on your night robe, Edvard." Will said. "I'll be right out."

Eddie silently made a stroll to her cabin then closed the door behind her. Will finished up the cup then put it into the dishwasher. He returned to his cabin then put on the burgundy bath robe that almost blended in with his color scheme. A scheme that had only recently became a pattern which was part of the family after ten years. He wrapped the laser pistol belt around his waist once exiting the room and took out a solar lantern then spotted a eager Eddie waiting for him at the doorway of residential deck.

Will smiled then joined Eddie up the corridor of the ship. He pressed a button then the doorway to the corridor slipped open before them. They took a few steps forward and the door closed behind them smoothly with a hiss. Will saw the environment of the planet stood out against the view screen of the Jupiter 2.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on, the view screen grew closer, the view screen was replaced by a dark canvas with, and the ship was waving from side to side as Eddie clung on to the older man's pant uniform. Will was leaned against the set down Astronavigator as his eyes flashed open over Eddie's terrified shrieks. Will watched as events were happening that never occurred before.

_"Major," It was the younger version of Smith with the wounds from the explosive still left over on his face in a gray spacesuit highlighting his alien figure wearing large gray bulky gloves covering his hands. "If you had allowed me to go after Mr Cackler instead of the professor and William then we could have avoided this mess needless all together!"_

_"Just drive as I fire!" Don ordered._

_"Say, why didn't you go to me?" Smith looked toward the major._

_"John was furious!" Don said. "I couldn't stop him."_

_"Furious to handle this mess on his own?" Smith asked._

_"Yes!" A rocket flew on away from the Jupiter 2. "We got him in the system that we want!"_

_"Major, I don't know how to drive."_

_"You do."_

_"Not!"_

_"Then . . . how are you flying the ship?"_

_"I aaaaamm guessssssssssssssing!"_

_"You're doing a good job!" Don pressed the rocket launcher.  
_

_The Jupiter shook from side to side._

_"Oh sweet heavens! Mr Cackler is firing at us!"_

_"Move us out of the way!"_

_Smith screamed as the craft shook from aside to side._

_"Major, why the heavens did you let me seat here instead of going down?" Smith glared toward the younger man._

_"That was a close call." Don replied. "Keep it up! We're going to force Mr Cackler's facility to make a emergency landing!"_

_"I don't know if she can take it!"_

_"She can!"_

_"Major-We have to consider aborting the craft! She hasn't been completely repaired."_

_"Let me think about that. Eyes on the road!"_

_"Fine, fine, fine."_

_Don picked up the radio receiver._

_"Lower decks, get to the space pod and take along survival gear." Don announced._

_"Something wrong, over." Judy's voice came over._

_"We are taking on damage." Don said. "Get Debbie out of her closet."_

_"Roger." Judy said._

_Smith looked toward the major._

_"You're not going to make it." Smith replied then lowered his gaze on to the instruments. "But, I am."_

_"Why are you so certain of that?" Don asked._

_"My gut tells me this." Smith said._

_"We ARE going to make this, pessimistic mutant spider!" Don said._

_"I hope so. Ah! There goes the space pod!" He pointed toward the orange and gray moving figure among the black canvas. "Very thorough and quick women."_

_"Firing rocket!" The ship trembled with a shudder and the men were thrust forward being stopped by the seatbelt then leaned back up. "We got it! Right where we want them! They are headed down toward the planet!"_

_"Don't cheer so loudly, Major." Smith warned. "You're still in outer space. Arrogance will kill you."_

_"I have been at this far longer than you have." Don reminded then Smith raised a eyebrow looking toward him._

_"What is that supposed to mean?" Smith asked._

_"Three years." Don said._

"Daddy!" Eddie cried.

_Smith bolted his head up as Don's eyes widened at the sound of the stranger's voice then_ _leaned alongside the arm rest of the chair then stared out toward the younger man and recognition flickered in his bright blue eyes._

_"William?" Smith asked._

The view of the bridge was gone replaced by the one that they were most familiar to; long, widened, and roomy. It was quiet as they stood on the bridge of the ship that was quite still and motionless. Not a moment had passed as they stared out the window clinging toward one another. Will sat down in the adjoining seat and Eddie sat down alongside him. 

Will's hand was left dangling on the edge of the arm rest that Eddie carefully (but slowly) took and squeezed it.

After a time, they fell asleep and Will knew how to solve the problem.

It was only a matter of time, patience, and approaching his father regarding what the temporal anomalies had all in common.

Doctor Smith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, that scene had Will and Penny and it originally occurred on the bridge during the temporal anomalies episode when they were still teenagers. Obviously, this is how it could have gone had Don not gone to Smith and instead discussed how to extract Robot with John. And Will overheard it and went after him. John went alone taking along Don's ring for Judy to trade for Robot and things didn't go as planned.


	33. Chapter 33

The sound of speaking softly was enough to stir Eddie awake. Eddie came to her doorway then pressed her ear against the door.

"Someone wants Doctor Smith is what you are saying, Will." Eddie overheard Judy.

"Yes." Will said. "That is exactly what I am thinking."

"That is what it boils down to." John said. "Only one person in the entire universe wants him."

"But all those versions that we have seen and heard." Penny spoke up. "That was the versions from here."

"They are still working on getting the correct Smith." Don said. "Or were."

"I feel that they got a hold on Doctor Smith's pocket watch just recently." Will said.

"The queen is very determined on getting him." John said. "These anomalies; one person is capable of making them."

"Eglardo." Maureen said.

"They got him." Don said, grimly.

"If they keep up what they are doing, many planets in the system are going to become geologically unstable and implode." John said. "Tectonic plates can't take this anomaly for minutes at a time and return to what they were. . ."

"Just like the first planet Doctor Smith and the anti-matter versions of us were." Will said.

"We don't know where Professor Eglardo is but we have to start asking questions to make sure these anomalies come to a cease." John said.

"Then we find the Queen Madulla and tell her what is at stake." Maureen said. "Herself, her rule, and her people."

"Her own world could implode because there may be many timelines where he is there in her captivity and she doesn't know it." John said.

"Sounds like we got another mission on the table." Don said.

"Does sound that way." John agreed.

"Is it a mission?" Will asked.

"Sounds like one to me." John said, somberly. "We are still going to Alpha Centauri before we go to Kavalar."

"And let the episodes continue, father?" Judy said. "I can't accept this going on for months."

John held his hand up.

"I hear you, Judy." John said. "I feel it is much safer for the grandchildren to be far away as humanely possible than being with us."

Then, Judy relaxed in her chair and Eddie tensed up. 

"We can't leave them all alone on Gamma." Maureen said.

"We won't." John said and Maureen relaxed in her seat. "That is why I want volunteers who want to stay on Alpha Centauri with them."

"I will stay with them." Penny raised a hand up. "I am a woman."

"So will I." And so did Will. "Traveling in space doesn't feel the same as it once did."

"You need a pilot," Don said. "I am going with you."

"And you need a cook." Maureen said.

"And back up." Judy said.

"Is that what you want?" John asked. "Once you make these decisions and act on them; it's final." John's eyes scanned the members of the people that were part of his family. "We may not see the other group for a long time if she doesn't listen to us."

"I speak for everyone when I say this, daddy." Penny said. "It's a risk that we can accept."

"There is no other way that we would like to go." Don said.

"Now, if Robot ever rejoins us. . ." Will asked. "What about him? What do we do with him?"

John paused, thinking it over very carefully, on what was the best course of action regarding the advanced environmental machine.

"He stays on Gamma with you and the grandchildren." John said. "If we come across someone like Dana then we can avoid using lots of fuel for what could be a long trip."

"How about we take care of the unknown and ask Kavalar's coordinates?" Don asked. "Make it be one trip for the Jupiter 2? Not many planets have lots of fuel."

"I like the sound of that idea." John said. "Let's get back to bed. We have a long day ahead of us getting more metal made."

Eddie returned to bed then slipped back into rest over the sound of the family splitting up returning to their cabins. She fell asleep with uncertainty and frightened as the thought of her family being split up forever was beginning to tug at her. Moment of silence by moment of silence that passed; she began to have a clear picture of being at Alpha Centauri would be like. Silently, Eddie wept for what she saw was a undeniable reality that had every chance of becoming real all until she fell asleep.

* * *

"Eddie, are you okay?"

Eddie was set on a boulder overlooking a pond with her arms set on her knees. Joshua was scouring through the environment with Don and Judy searching for lizards and crickets ahead of them. Eddie turned toward the direction of Penny, then shrugged, turning her attention back.

"Is this about what we told you?" Penny asked.

Eddie nodded.

"We're never going to see them again once we split up." Eddie said.

Penny frowned.

"That is not true, Eddie." Penny said. "We will see them again."

"Aunt, be real with me." Eddie said.

"There is a chance." Penny admitted.

"I am scared." Eddie said.

"Me too . . ." Penny released her feeling on the matter. "We too."

"We are going to drop that kid off, first, are we?"

Penny carefully weighed her next words for the nine year old girl beside her. 

"That kid is a family friend, Eddie." Penny said. "And it is our first order of business to make sure that he gets a proper family." Then she nodded and added on, "Yes, we _are_ going to drop off Isaac before we go on the next adventure."

"Are we really going in two separate ships?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, we are." Penny confirmed. "It's really happening. Once we find the second ship for the mission."

"Why are mom and grandma leaving with them?" Eddie prodded. "Dad and grandpa can make their own food."

"Because it would be miserable being without them being apart for so long." Penny said. "Mother isn't herself when father is gone for months at a time or without knowing if he is okay, if he is coming back, or alive." She clenched on to her hands in her lap. "Like that one time father's tether broke then he was sent flying away from the Jupiter 2 and we had to crash nearby." She looked back back at the memory with certain sorrow. "She was a shadow of herself."

Debbie the Bloop was eating a snack alongside the Robinson women beside Eddie's pet lizard that was tied to a pole.

"And Judy is. . ." She grimaced at a memory that flickered before her eyes. "Judy isn't very happy when Don is gone away for long as father is and becomes a different version of herself."

"She holds up a great fort." Eddie said. "So is that why she goes with dad to the drilling rig when she doesn't have to?"

"That's part of her shift," Penny laughed with a shake of her head. "Has nothing to do with love."

"I have only seen mom being a toxic version of herself for so little but it never lasts." Eddie said.

"Because we fought to make sure it didn't." Penny said. "She went with father to check on Don and Will."

"And she was right that dad was in danger." Eddie said. "Right that the people staying with us had bad intentions for the family."

"Love can do that to people and so can gut feelings." Penny said. "Not many but it is a few." She shook her head with a sigh. "Their yearning for specific companionship is special. It makes people stronger but for us, Robinson women?" She looked toward the afternoon sky admiring the clouds that were passing over with a smile. "It makes us weak and powerful at the same time."

"It's your fuel to make things right again."

"It is."

"Is that why you forgave mom for her nasty comments?"

Penny paused, briefly, before replying.

"I do." Penny said with a small nod.

"And that why you haven't really had any romance?" Eddie asked.

"I want to have my romance on Gamma." Penny said. "A romance I can go grow old with and lose on one planet. Course, I will still love people all the way to Gamma." Penny nodded, reassuringly, back at the younger girl. "But, I won't commit."

"You'll be the strongest of all us, auntie." Eddie said. "Surviving, living in your mind that things are all good, while on autopilot and chase after us when you get a cavalry on your side." 

Penny lifted a brow at the comment.

"You may save us all with that state of mind keeping you in one piece." Eddie finished.

Penny smiled back on the young girl then drew her into a hug and Eddie returned the hug.

"You won't lose me." Penny said. "And I won't lose you and your brother without a fight."

Eddie felt warmth as Penny looked on, defiantly, fighting back tears looking on with toward the unknown. The fear of losing her family slowly, one by one, until it was only her and the Jupiter 2 was one that she didn't want to let happen. And Penny wasn't going to let that happen with her in charge.

"I love you, auntie." Eddie said.

"I love you, too, Edvard." Penny closed her eyes and smiled with the resolve.

* * *

Stars were a familiar sight for Will that he had enough of seeing. Stars lost their intrigue and their awe as he knew where each of them lead to. Where each of them held and once had been a site of adventure. He had memories of bad adventures that lingered in his mind from the long journey seeking for Alpha Centauri and the journey between them. Stars were a sight that Will was tired of seeing.

It amazed him how the younger version of his old friend had stared at them as if they were new to him, every time, looking up at them in awe. It was strange to consider that stars weren't background noise to him or a annoyance to see every day once night took over. It was strange to see his old friend dislike the stars as he retreated under the persona of his spider counterpart. It was far stranger to be told, " **Stars are our companions, William. But, sometimes they shine on what we don't want to see.** " by both versions five hundred years apart from their presence when speaking of how he felt comfortable in the darkness.

Stars had become something that Will hated seeing every day.

Hate was a strong word but it was a word that demonstrated his feelings about it.

Perhaps, they were reminders of what he had done and what had happened because of it.

Will didn't care about the stars as he once did as a child.


	34. Chapter 34

Eddie and Joshua were traveling the area of the planet that they called home with Eddie's pet Lizard hanging out on the side of her shoulder. Joshua walked over the terrain with a laugh as he were bouncing from one boulder to the next boulder crashing on to the next.

"Hold up, big brother!" Eddie cried.

Joshua laughed as he leaped over a small pond landing on to the next boulder.

"Too slow, little sister!" Joshua turned toward her and let out another laugh.

Eddie frowned, shaking her head, her blue eyes locked on Joshua.

"Nah nah uh!" Eddie insisted.

"So are!" Joshua resumed running on with a crack of laughter.

"Watch out for the boulder with the machine!" Eddie called out for her older brother as she ran after him.

"What machine?" Joshua laughed. "I see no machine, Edvard!"

Joshua took a step forward then crashed on to a large machine with a scream and his body flailed as electricity busted through his figure. After a few moments, his figure stopped flailing then fell off the machine. Eddie screamed in terror as her brother's unconscious form laid on the ground on his side. Her lizard screeched with their scales buzzing open as it stared on toward a newcomer. Eddie's eyes flashed open as she faced the tall, rugged, and disheveled alien figure then shrieked.

Eddie turned away then began to run off. Abruptly, she paused in mid-step then returned to the figure and her lizard slithered away as Eddie slid down the boulder and joined the new comer. The new comer scowled at the boy then used a pitch fork to slide Joshua off the rock. Joshua fell with a thud to the ground. The oddly designed pitchfork poked the young boy in the back then he slowly stirred with a groan and fell unconscious remaining on the ground.

The figure ceased prodding at the boy then frowned upon them and motioned toward two golden short beings.

"Put these children into the freezing tubes." The figure ordered.

Their assistants picked up child by child then took them to the lair with their figures held between them.

"And back to the drawing board fixing this power generator!" The figure kicked at the generator then howled holding their foot up and screeched "Stupid children!"

The figure paused then leaned against the boulder and groaned rubbing their forehead.

"Now, I have to make it anti-collision on top of everything else." The figure shook their head then went to the waiting ship.

* * *

Will found a large tree branch then took out a swiss army knife from the side of his pocket. He knelt down and proceeded to force it into pieces. Will spent hours at a time carving with the knife chipping pieces of wood on a rock until what he wanted was completed. He flipped the sculpture into the air then caught it by the handle and laughed.

He slipped the aged swiss army knife into his pocket.

Then Will admired the carving for what it was worth with a careful moment of reflection.

"This will make a great prop for Eddie's Merida costume." Will noted with a grin then he walked away from the perch hiding the wooden sword behind his back.

The gift was going to be well received in his mind.

* * *

"Dinner!"

Maureen's voice called from the doorway of the ship that echoed through the landscape wearing gloves as she held a large pot of stew. The family were playing with Debbie the very well aged Bloop and Barbie the Lizard that the space chimpanzee did not seem to like not one bit. Debbie picked up Barbie by the tail then smacked it against the ground repeatedly over Penny's terrified shriek. Judy picked up the chimpanzee that blooped loudly at the creature shaking its fist at the creature that shrieked back at it.

"Will, put Barbie back!" Judy shrieked.

"Barbie is just scared." Will said. "He doesn't look that hurt."

"He isn't crying," Penny said as she felt along the lizard's side quite gently as the lizard's head flailed in alarm. 

"Don't care, put Barbie back where Eddie keeps her!" Judy said.

"This is the first time that Debbie has pushed her nerves." Penny reminded her sister. "He isn't going to harm her."

"Will, I have to agree with Judy" John replied to the younger man. "It is dinner time and Debbie doesn't like being cooped up in the ship all that often family meal."

"Alright." Will said as Judy handed Debbie the Bloop to Penny then went inside. 

Don walked forward scanning the distance as John turned his attention off Will.

"Don? What is the matter?" John approached the pilot of the Jupiter 2. "Seeing something?"

"I have feeling that something is terribly amiss with Joshua and Eddie."

John looked on, in concern, as he scanned the horizons then turned toward the younger man in alarm.

"They haven't returned to the Jupiter 2 after our shift the mine?" John asked.

Don shook his head.

"No." Don looked on as his stricken thought sunk into the professor. "They have not."

"I haven't seen them all day." Will said as he helped Maureen set up the table alongside Judy. "Not even a peep."

"I last saw them racing each other on those boulders." Judy commented then paused as it became quite apparent that they were missing. "Father, how about Don and I go search for them?"

"I go with that idea searching for the kids." Don said. "Besides, John. . . You're a little too old to do some rescue missions."

"I won't argue with that." John said with a laugh as Judy went inside of the Jupiter in a bolt.

"I will leave some servings for everyone else in the galley," Maureen said. "All set at the right temperature waiting to be had being kept warm."

Judy returned with the laser pistol belt and handed a set to Don. 

"John, if we don't come back---"

"Which you will." John cut off his son-in-law.

"No, father. . . " Judy shook her head. "Something about it doesn't feel right."

"Just how wrong does it feel?" John asked, quite concerned.

"I can't exactly pin it but it is in the gut." Judy said.

"That feeling." John said with a nod.

"Uh huh." Don agreed with a nod.

"We will search in the morning if you don't come back and get everyone out of the sticky mess." John reassured the couple.

"Here," Maureen handed two insulated cups. "Something to eat on the road."

"Is this the hemp model?" Judy asked as she looked at the cup. "The one that Doctor Smith kept nagging you about?"

"Including the spoons underneath the lid." Maureen nodded back at Judy and the women smiled at the memory. "Those children will be running back home eager for food soon as you get them freed from their trouble."

The couple went off into the dark side by side into the unknown.

Maureen joined John's side then put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"They will be back." Maureen assured. "I know they will."

John looked down upon her with a smile.

"Let's eat." John said, his arm wrapped around her waist, then they went to the set up table with only four members and a alien chimpanzee eating at the table. 

* * *

"Eddie!"

"Joshua!"

"Edvard!"

"Joshua!"

"Where are you?"

"We could try looking in the caves." Don suggested.

"We have been searching for two hours, why would they do that?" Judy asked, alarmed. "It is unlike them to frighten us this way."

"Kids will be kids even in space, Judy." Don reminded his partner then smiled as various memories crossed his mind. "I remember a time when Will and Penny did that with Smith in the first few years."

"Those were very entertaining days." Judy agreed with a snicker.

"Scaring the living skin off the old man. . ." Don snickered as he scanned the terrain searching for two giggling children.

"Ah," Judy said. "Innocent times."

"Yes, it was." Don nodded in agreement. "Watching him run away screaming his head off and fall down a hill into a pit of thorns---" Don started to laugh in amusement to the chain of events. "That was the funniest prank ever."

"And the last one."

"Well, it wasn't the last."

"Don, what did you do with the other Doctor Smith?"

"I laid my spare clothes out-- while he were napping-- with Will and Penny, dropped some sand, planted vines over them, and hid in the cavern back on Tremfya." Don replied, fondly. "However, that was the same week you were out doing something with John and Maureen."

"Is that why you, Penny, and Will were laughing while Doctor Smith stormed into the Jupiter 2 and insisted that he weren't hungry when we got back that night?"

"It was." Don confirmed. "I thought you were going to be there that morning."

"We all make mistakes when it comes to making a prank." Judy said. "I recall my latest prank with Joshua and Penny went off terribly."

"You dumped cold potato soup instead of warm soup over Will and I because we got back late." Don said. "How in the world did you not go inside the ship for hours that way?"

"I did go in." Judy insisted on the issue. "We had a trip wire. He tripped over it."

Don smiled, quite fondly, at the retelling of the story.

"Like your prank, I hadn't bothered to check if everything was in stone." Don admitted to the error, regretfully.

He sighed with a thin smile still on his features at the prank. He closed his eyes, reliving if only briefly a brief moment of when he had used Robot's parts to scare the older man then it faded from his fingertips by one of the last ones before his departure. His mind jumped to the prank on Tremfya.

"I thought he wasn't going to run off freaking out into the wilderness screaming that he had away centuries and screaming for God to take him."

Judy and Don giggled over the collective amusement of the memory. Their giggles turned into laughter as they came to a pause alongside a boulder and proceeded to cackle sliding down the boulders. They were that for some time then they tossed aside the empty packaging of what had once been their dinner only a hour ago. After a few moments of laughter, the duo got up to their feet then resumed their path on ahead of themselves.

Thirty minutes later, Don held a hand out pausing Judy in her tracks. He motioned a hand toward a floating orb that was inside of the space ahead of them. They looked about the area then carefully walked on toward the entrance of a cavern and entered a lab with their hands on their laser pistols walking into the dark and Don took out his laser pistol.

* * *

John was the first of the family to depart from the familiar but age old cabins and slide the door close in the morning. Maureen was in front of the mayor while carrying the dark maroon uniforms with yellow and green in them for the new year ahead of them. The familiar color coordination had returned as it had sometimes in the last ten years since time finally resumed.

It was Maureen who went to the cabin door that the couple shared then knocked on it with a smile. John went to the bathroom as she remained by the door as her knocking grew louder and louder with each ring and her smile started to fade replaced by concern.

"Mom, you're knocking very loudly." Will poked halfway out of his cabin as Maureen withdrew her hand.

Maureen slid the door open then looked in.

"Judy?"

Maureen froze where she stood.

"Don?"

Will rubbed his eyes as he came out of the room.

"Mom, what is wrong?"

Will looked in spotting the empty cabin.

"They never came back,"

Will joined his mother's side then peered in and stepped back as it sunk in.

"They're not here."

"Who's not here?" John's voice came from behind them they turned toward him.

"Judy, Don, the grandchildren." Maureen said as Will slid the door open to the grandchildren's cabins and saw they were empty.

John scanned the empty cabins then shifted his attention on to Maureen and Will. 

"Will, would you like to go help me get them back?"

"Any day." Will said. "I'll get ready."

Will made a bolt for the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

"John," Maureen said. "If something goes wrong. . ."

"I need you to leave this planet with Penny and make sure that Isaac gets to Tauron," John said. "Then come back for us."

"What about the damages to the ship?" Maureen asked.

"There is enough repaired hull to make the flight from Don's last report." John said. "However, the flight after that is a different story." he put a hand on the side of her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "We won't be parted long."

"I will." Maureen promised.

John's hand moved to her chin and gave it a gentle stroke then withdrew from Maureen as did he when he joined his son departing the Jupiter 2 with laser pistols in hand. Maureen watched as the men departed from where Don and Judy had left as she clenched along the doorway of the Jupiter 2. She closed the door then turned away carefully thinking what would be best to be done if he didn't return as she followed his orders. She looked toward Penny's cabin and nodded to herself, she would understand.

The men _didn't_ return the following afternoon.

* * *

Maureen reached her hand out then took Penny's hand.

"It won't be long, I promise." Maureen said.

"What if after we return, they are not there and so is the person holding them captive?"

"Then we will go on a bit of a search ourselves for them." Maureen said. "What they need is a ship with only two women ready to fight against wrath of space and childless."

"Isaac. . ." Penny stopped. "I forgot about him."

"It is easy to forget about him when he is so silent." Maureen said. "The boy can't be with us when we get into trouble."

Penny wiped a tear off as she shook her head then sucked down her distress and nodded.

"Do we got enough fuel for two trips?" Penny asked, quite worried on the issue. "One to Tauron and the other back here?"

"We will be stuck here a little longer." Maureen admitted to the fact. "But. . . It is a worth while trip. We will have to shed the unnecessary equipment somewhere in the mean time."

"I happen to know just the place." Penny replied as she put a hand on the side of her mother's shoulder. "We will be back before they know it."

Maureen smiled then they proceeded to empty the Jupiter 2 of the unnecessary equipment. It took little more than a hour to perform the task and set the equipment into where Penny dictated it should belong for the time being with little wear and tear by the wildlife. In a few days, the equipment that had been made by hemp would decompose and the evidence that they had been there only a week ago would be gone. Piece by piece the ship became ready for flight.

Then, the door to the Jupiter 2 closed, the ship rose into the air with the landing gear sliding under the belly, with a loud familiar wail. The Jupiter 2 returned into space with only a handful of lives behind her hulls with Penny and Maureen at the front seats with the family pets in the freezing tubes. The starship came to the orbit of the planet then departed. Maureen set in the coordinates to Tauron then slid forward the hyper drive. In mere moments, the ship arrived to the orbit of Tauron. Maureen set the ship down through the atmosphere with Penny doing her best. The ship came down to the surface of the planet.

They got out the Chariot then returned to the freezing tube that contained the young boy lying in wait to be awakened. Penny was the one who got the courage to press the door open then the boy fell out with a thud landing to his side. The women grabbed the boy by the shoulder then took him down the ship and set him into the back. It was Penny who buckled him up then Maureen started the Chariot and the younger woman buckled up then the Chariot rolled on through the environment headed toward the capital of Tauron.

Penny looked back occasionally toward the resting boy slumped in the side of the chair. Some of his resting features reminded Penny of the older man that she had last seen fast asleep snoring away on their last hiking trip out in the open before Bronius entered the picture. She turned her attention away from him with resolve in her mind. It was all going to be okay. Penny was certain of that. It was quite awhile getting to the city and following the directions that John had given Maureen in the event of this incident happening. The agency center was waiting for them with a open door and couples entering and exiting with/without children.

Maureen picked up the boy into her arms once unbuckling him and departed the Chariot as Penny remained in the driver seat. The intergalactic center of fostering children featured children playing. A humanoid being that had the lower half of a turtle and the upper half of a human crawling up toward them with features of aging decorating her frame.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"I am here to drop Isaac Gampu off."

The elderly woman smiled back at Maureen with laughter lines that were quite apparent.

"Ah, you must be Doctor Robinson."

"That I am."

"The mayor told me and my staff to expect you should something was to happen." The head of the center snapped her fingers and a younger man arrived. "We have just the family waiting to adopt him."

Maureen handed the boy off to the man's arms.

"Are you? . . ." Maureen asked.

The younger man snickered, shaking his head, but grinning back at Maureen.

"No, Foster Care Assistant." The younger man replied. "I wish I could adopt _all_ these kids."

"He is currently banned from having more than seventeen children." Maureen lifted a brow. "He loves raising children in general. . . He's a bit like what Taurons call the 'crazy old cat woman'."

"I raise wolf cubs on the side." the young man grinned.

"Children with space wolfman syndrome." Was the comment that cleared the issue. "The Sunseeds will be in a few days, Doctor." The head of the organization replied to Maureen. "They live on a planet of agriculture. They are called the Sunseeds. They are very patient people."

She watched as Isaac was carried off down the corridor and vanished out of her line of sight with a smile then shifted her attention on to the older woman. The thought of Isaac having to do chores and spend a good chunk of his childhood on a farm planet was amusing enough to laugh over in private given his lazy nature that she had become accustomed to. The only thing that escaped from her was a chuckle.

"Thank you for waiting for him." Maureen thanked the elderly woman then held her hand out.

"We always wait for those who need to place their children with someone more capable." The elderly woman shook Maureen's hand.

"Good-bye." Maureen said then walked out of the room.

And the Jupiter 2 departed Tauron afterwards.


	35. Chapter 35

The Jupiter 2 returned to the planet that lacked any name. It was just as they had left it with only relatively little change since they departed and went into light speed. It had been a instant to the crew but a matter of time to the outside world. Eight months had passed in whole since they went and had returned to the planet while it had only been close to a little more than a few hours. The women admired the scenery of the planet back on the clearing at what had once been a home to a large and sprawling family. Maureen descended down the stairs gazing about the area of the planet with wary eyes. 

"Penny, you are to stay behind with the Jupiter 2." Maureen instructed.

Maureen scanned the environment.

"And if you don't come back?" Penny asked.

Maureen became silent with no answer to a otherwise easy question.

"Then I am going with you." Was Penny's decision. "Robinsons always stick together."

Maureen turned in the direction of her lone young daughter then smiled and squeezed Penny's shoulder.

"Think you're up for it just the two of us to rescue the family?" Maureen asked.

Penny grinned, widely.

"I am." Penny confirmed. "What do we call this planet?"

"Trob-lular." Maureen said with a grimace.

"The name is perfect for the planet." Penny noted.

"Last I recall, they went that way." Maureen said.

"I will get the laser pistols." Penny returned into the ship as Maureen scanned the landscape ahead of them then she returned with the laser pistol belts and the two laser pistols.

The women went on their way following the path that had once been taken by the others only months ago.

* * *

The women crept through the landscape on their second day of searching for the territory where the group had vanished heading toward. Penny was slightly afraid of what was ahead of them. They came through the territory of what was a sea of boulders that littered the landscape. They came to a tunnel that had machinery strewn around it. Penny had a hand left on the handle of the laser pistol as she went forward behind her mother who was in the lead. They entered the chamber that slowly brightened up before their eyes revealing a partial lab with occupied stasis tubes featuring members of the family.

Their eyes were open in a trance state of being staring at the space that was ahead of them as a cold sweat came upon Maureen and she felt nauseousness. Once, a long time ago, Maureen would have been part of the crowd and it would have been her son that was in her position coming to their rescue as he did on most occasions in his youth. It had been many times that John and Don had to come to the children's rescue with a few notable times that it were the women coming to their rescue when the men were away on other errands pertaining to the Jupiter 2.

Maureen turned her gaze on to Penny then gave back a nod. The women made a bolt for the freezing booths but unexpectedly fire came out of the cavern firing back at their direction. Penny shrieked with a fall landing to the ground and dropped her laser pistol to the ground alongside her. Maureen's eyes flashed open in alarm then fired back returning fire as she took a few steps for her daughter. A unexpected pain erupted starting from her left arm that was a high pitch pain.

Maureen staggered back falling down to her knees feeling weak and lethargic. She looked toward her fallen daughter in distress and realized that she was in no condition to bring her out of the cavern. Maureen got up to her feet then began to retreat from the cavern slipping her laser pistol into her laser pistol harness. Maureen made a mad dash for the Jupiter 2 then fell down to her knees landing to her side. She looked on ahead into the distance feeling her heart racing and her mind etched by lethargy begging for her to greet it as a old friend. She struggled to her feet holding on to her arm and made a rush for the space pod. 

The door opened allowing her passage. The space pod descended from the Jupiter 2 then made a bee-line for the destination that was waiting for her. She parked the space pod along the tunnel entrance then carefully exited the space pod. _I need help,_ Maureen reminded herself. _Robot is the only one who can provide that kind of help_. It was a desperate moment in her life as she trudged forward into the cavern walking slowly as she fought against the dark cloud of rest. With hope and optimism to free her family as her motivator, the matriarch passed through the tunnel.

"Help."

Her pace was slower as she went on.

"Robot, are you there?"

Her eyes were feeling heavy as she took step after step.

"Robot?"

Her voice echoed through the tunnel.

"Robot?"

She continued her way through the tunnel.

"I need your help."

She was so frightened, desperate, and terrified of losing the chance to save her everything.

"Robot, you failed once. Your presence won't fail us a second time."

Maureen tripped over a rock then fell but was caught by a familiar, long, rounded arm.

"Robot will not fail protecting the Robinsons a second time." Robot's voice came to. "My medical sensors indicate you are experiencing the aftermath of a heart attack."

"I am." Maureen fought to stay awake. "Save my family."

"Your health is the most important part of this rescue mission." Robot replied. "Hold on."

Maureen fell into the dark as Robot picked her up, swooped her into his arms, then rolled out of the cavern for the space pod. He closed the door behind him once reaching the metal transport then set Maureen to the floor. His advanced sensors indicated the Jupiter 2 was just as far as it was the last time around in the last visit that they had spent on this planet. Robot set the space pod to the ground alongside the Jupiter 2 then picked up the middle aged woman into his arms.

Robot unreeled the door open and descended down the platform landing with a thud down. He rolled up the stairs that had flattened down upon his arrival, entered the Jupiter 2, then set Maureen down into her bed. He went back into the lab and took out the box for the medical equipment. He shifted through searching for the required medication and found little medication to treat her ailment except for painkillers. He set the aspirin on to the table then generated a cup with water.

Robot rolled into her cabin then went back and came inside with a needle. He injected Maureen with adrenaline that jerked her awake then she smiled staring at the machine and set back down against the bed.

"Oh, it's just you, Robot." Maureen said as she settled. "You frightened me for a moment there."

"Medication will increase the chances of your recovery." Robot replied.

Maureen took the medication that was held out by Robot and the cup.

"This is my second heart attack in a long time."

Robot bobbed his helm up.

"When did you detect that you had a heart attack?" Robot asked.

There was alarm in the machine's voice with a hint of confusion in his mechanical voice.

"Roughly . . . eight hundred thirty-three years ago." She grimaced as a memory crossed her mind. "Lingering scars of my first one that I had when I first awoke from freezing tube." She folded her arms quite disgruntled on the matter, herself. "The effects had disqualified me from joining the family on a planet of relaxation. No one took the news very well."

Maureen looked aside in sorrow then closed her eyes at the look on the older man's face when she had informed him of the reason. The sheer confusion, the doubt, the denial, the bargaining -- while he were restricted from the resort due to his age -- to make sure that a injustice was corrected.

"Not even our onboard physician."

It had gotten him and Will into trouble then. The children were unhappy about the announcement and John saw his wife in a different light as realization dawned on him that she could have gone back into the freezing tube at any moment after the incident. And Don was furious at the doctor.

"She didn't have a heart attack at all." Robot said.

Robot became silent.

"Robot, what is it?" Maureen asked. "Was it one of the children?"

Robot refused to speak.

"No," She shook her head as horror and heartbreak spread on her features. "Not John. Please not him."

"But, Doctor Judy Robinson did." Robot spoke up as her figure lost all the tension then horror fell upon Maureen. "She was diagnosed by a ex-physician shortly before her demise."

Robot took out a novel from beside Maureen and handed it to her.

"In one hour, everything will be okay and your family will be returned to you; safe and sound in one piece." Robot assured.

"Don't you need help finding them?" Maureen asked as Robot came toward the doorway.

Robot twirled toward Maureen.

"Negative. I am very well aware where they are." Robot replied. "I have done my fair share of exploring between keeping myself hidden in the cavern." He yanked the door aside. "Please rest and do not stress over the event in which your family will be rescued in."

"I will, Doctor Robot." Maureen said as a smile spread from corner to corner of her lips.

"What is your title?" Robot inquired. "Are you a professor or a doctor?"

"I gave up my title in retiring to raising children, Robot." Maureen said.

"What is your title?" Robot repeated.

"Doctor." Maureen said. "I am a biochemist. I like to be called Maureen these days."

Robot bobbed his helm down then closed the door behind him as he departed and Maureen looked down regarding the large novel that Robot had given her to read for the long wait. Maureen smiled, it was a old favorite of Maureen with the finely aged yellow pages. A novel for the perfect occasion: The Arabian Nights.

" _In the city of Harran there once lived a king who had every happiness which life and fortune could bestow save that he lacked an heir_."

* * *

Robot returned to the tunnel precisely twenty-five minutes after he had returned the matriarch of the Jupiter 2 to her cabin. His figure became taller as his shadow changed losing its iconic shape to a far more grizzly, frightening, and towering shadow that had the treads of a tank wheeling into the cavern. It took him approximately ten minutes to wheel into the cave and destroy the lair that held the Robinsons aiming his plasma blaster at different directions with precision. The golden droid assistants fled from the cavern leaving behind the employer who shrieked.

With the destruction done that had instilled a severe cave collapse, Robot picked up two booths and stacked them on to his large claws and rolled out of the chamber. He tossed the booths into the distance where they landed on the base safely and soundly then returned inside. He did the same action a couple of times until that he were sure all the lifeforms part of the Robinson expedition were outside. Robot waved his large claws above the entrance of the booth. The Robinsons staggered out of the booth with groans of their own and Robot's size shrunk until he were down to six feet and caught Penny against his chassis once she fell out of the freezing tube quite unconscious. So did Joshua only with blue lips and pale skin that appeared once he started to fall with a cry as he grasped his arm.

"Joshua!"

Don came to the boy's side.

"What in the hell did he fall into this time?"

"He fell on to a tall and strange machine, dad." Eddie said as the lieutenant colonel began to pump his hand along the boy's chest attempting to resuscitate him. "It electrocuted him."

"Penny!" Judy cried coming to her sister's side and Robot slid Penny into her arms.

"Judith? . . ." Penny asked.

"Are you okay?" Judy asked.

"A little hurt is all." Penny said.

"Major West." Robot announced. "Step aside."

"Don." John started to say. "Let Robot do it."

"No! I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!" Don cried. "Just give me a moment to wake him up! He doesn't need to be electrocuted."

John shifted his attention toward his son and Will nodded back. They quietly approached the lieutenant colonel then grabbed him by the arms and yanked him back from Joshua's unresponsive figure abruptly as he struggled to release himself from their grip. Robot loomed over his figure then activated his external defense system and fired at the boy over Don's shrieks. Robot did it over and over and over until the last one where he raised his energy levels for the next battery. Robot gave one more try then Don watched the boy's chest rise up and down.

The men let go of Don and the young father bolted to his son's side then picked him up into his arms. Robot lead the family to the space pod. Robot paused as the family went one by one up the stairs as though he were plagued by other thoughts or by a old memory that replayed in his processor of a personal worry which had returned to the surface.

"Robot, we need your help!" Judy called out for him.

And the angst became part of the background as Robot rolled forward as Judy pressed a button then the stairs became a platform that allowed him up then he closed the door behind him.

"We need band-aids." John said.

With a single clack, Robot handed a box of band-aids and the family tended to the wounds that had resulted from his flailing. 

"Thank you, Robot." Don thanked the machine as Will piloted the space pod back in the direction of the Jupiter 2.

Robot bobbed his helm down.

"You are welcome, Major West." Robot replied.

"Lieutenant Colonel West Robinson." Don corrected with a grin as he waved his finger, relieved, revealing his wedding and engagement rings on his ring finger. 

"You are welcome, Lieutenant Colonel West Robinson." Robot replied without missing a beat.

And the family roared with laughter as a bit of normal had returned to them.


	36. Chapter 36

"Will he recover?" John asked the machine.

"Affirmative." Robot replied.

"John, what happened back there?"

Maureen came to the side of the professor as the family laid in wait around the boy.

"Joshua had a heart attack, darling." John informed Maureen.

"He inherited the heart condition from Judy according to my medical processors." Robot said as John frowned by the reminder and Maureen became horrified by the comment as she briefly covered her mouth. "Maureen has recently been subject to a second heart attack."

John looked toward Maureen in alarm.

"Maureen?" John asked. "You look short of being unwell."

"I have rested long enough." Maureen said as her face faltered looking on toward the interior of the room. "Judy got it from me."

"But, Judy hasn't had a heart attack." John gestured into the cabin. "Nor has she shown _any_ signs of it."

"Heart attacks are in Professor Maureen Robinson's family history which only severely impacts the women rather than the men." Robot announced as John and Maureen exchanged a glance then shifted their attention back on to the machine. "The men impacted by heart diseases usually suffer only minimal effects."

"And here?" Maureen asked.

"I did not anticipate a child so young to be impacted by a heart condition." Robot admitted.

"What does he have?" Maureen asked.

Robot whirred back and forth before replying.

"My medical sensors indicate that Joshua has hypertension."

The shock hit the Robinsons like it were a sonic boom nearly rocked them off their feet and out of their skin even lifting up a heart string in Maureen's heart at the revelation and the professor's brows rose in alarm in unison.

"He has high blood pressure?" John asked. "How? How is that possible? He doesn't have obesity. It is not as if he has-"

"Diabetes." Maureen finished.

"His weight isn't obese for a child his age but with his blood pressure being taken." John said. "Maureen . . ."

"We don't have enough access to the necessary animals replicate enough insulin that he needs to live on a day to day basis in space." She winced as did John. "We have to tell Don and Judy."

"And put him into stasis." John said.

"Just for a short while." Maureen's voice then fell softer and regretful. "Just like Makin."

"Only much shorter." John said. "Maureen, how about you and the children take the Jupiter 2 to Alpha Centauri while we take care of the Makin and Madulla problem?"

"Only if they agree to it." Maureen said.

"Robot, report to the others about his condition." John ordered. "We will have a family meeting about what is to be done after."

"Affirmative."

Robot wheeled into the cabin as John squeezed Maureen's hand.

"We will hunt for a lot of pigs and coral them for the back up insulin should the freezing tubes become inoperable." John told Maureen.

And her hand squeezed his hand, tightly.

* * *

"Judy, are you okay? You're being very quiet."

Judy faked a smile back toward Penny as they sat by the bed side of the young boy with Debbie the Bloop resting on the edge of the boy's bed. It had been only two hours since the event that marked the end of a unexpected trouble by the children had been extinguished. Robot remained outside of the tunnel steering on patrol along with the professor and the major waiting for people to come out and to more or less scold them for not approaching the family directly after the incident.

"I need to go on a walk." Was all Judy said.

"Okay, Judy." Penny said.

"If. . ." Judy couldn't finish her comment.

"You're having a moment to yourself with a walk." Penny replied, reassuringly, with one hand on Judy's shoulder. "That is all that needs to be told."

"Thank you." Judy said, in gratitude.

"I wouldn't be okay if one of my children had a heart condition that came from me." Penny shook her head.

"You're the best little sister a astronaut could ask for." Judy's voice sounded ready to crack.

"And a colonist could ever need." Penny squeezed Judy's hand as the older woman smiled. "Go have some fresh air."

"I'll see you later." Judy got up from the chair then went out of the room and toward the exit of the residential deck.

 _How could I have missed the signs?_ Her mind was filled with such thoughts as her figure threatened to tremble from the volatile and upsetting feelings. _How could I have been so blind?_ Judy departed from the Jupiter 2 with slow steps taking her sweet time getting further away. _How could I have not known? How could I have missed the classic signs of diabetes in my son-_ Her eyes were becoming stung by tears.

After a long while she came to a boulder then fell to her knees and started to weep. The feelings of uncertainty about her son growing up in space with the Robinsons family fell into a sea of doubt and worry that everything would remain right just as it had for the last ten years since time had resumed for the family. Her figure trembled as she wiped her tears away.

A hand was placed on her shoulder then she shifted toward the source of the hand and spotted her mother. Maureen wore guilt, regret, and distress. Judy got up to her feet then crashed into Maureen in a bear hug. It was a quiet hug between them as they cried in the out back, frightened for who they had almost lost, frightened on what they could lose so early, frightened that their family could lose a family member at any moment before he could be put into a freezing tube.

* * *

"Dad, remember Dana?" Will asked in the middle of the afternoon during lunch.

The men shifted from the table toward Will.

"Yes." John said. "I do."

Will sat down at the table with his plate and ceramic cup of water.

"I found a telegram lab awhile back on this planet that finds specific services and connects you to people."

Don lifted a brow.

"When was this?" Don asked.

Will sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with a smile.

"A short while before the little incident." Will said.

"Will, I like you to take Don and I to the telegram lab tomorrow morning." John said. "If that is any possible for you."

"I can do that if they haven't moved the facility, dad." Will said. "Presumably with Joshua in the freezing tubes when we go."

"He will be in a tube by tonight after dinner." John said.

"But, we will leave him to the women with a good-bye once there is enough insulin to last him for a hundred years if Judy wants him out." Don conditioned the boy's future on the fact.

Will nodded, sympathetic, to his sister's problem.

"I am surprised that the landscape from this side of the planet hasn't changed much asides to the larger landmasses that have because of the time anomalies." John changed the subject giving life to a thought that was nagging him.

"It is as if this corner of the planet has no possibilities." Don said.

"And that is just bothering me." John said. "Why are _we_ immune to it?"

"Because our timeline is the only one that is happening." Will said.

John frowned at that comment.

"Getting here?" John asked.

"Yeah." Will nodded with a shrug. "Period."

"Then what was the abnormality in our timeline that has the environment around us untouched for long periods of time?" Don asked.

"It seems wherever we go, that it is ours. " John surmised from the lack of information but primarily on the evident information that lingered around him and family. "Everywhere that we go, the battle has already been won, and if space tries to win, we will rise victorious. We have already survived in space for thousand forty-three years."

Will looked aside with a grimace doing some hard thinking.

"What if we left Doctor Smith and never came back for him?" Will asked.

"We wouldn't do that." John said.

"Dad, what if there is a possibility on Takuchi Seven with Doctor Smith there completely mutated?"

John leaned back into the chair.

"Now that, we would leave him behind as it was his last wish." John said. "That's a definite possibility, Will." John took a sip from the cup then lowered it down to the table. "When we left it, the planet was quite unkind for mass qualities of life."

"I guess that would make sense." Don said.

"Answers a few questions." John noted.

"Except for that one timeline we saw of Don and Doctor Smith at the bridge chasing after Mr Cackler." Will said.

"Except for that." John agreed with a nod.

"That is a outlier and shouldn't be counted." Don put a finger on the counter. "That could easily have been our version of the anti-matter world and . . ."

"And Doctor Smith would have blended in neatly with little problem." Will said.

"We would have already known if Smith were on Takuchi Seven by now, Will." John replied with a wave of his hand.

"That is true." Will said then snickered looking aside. "I would have sensed it by now."

"Madulla would have sent a royal radio rocket to the Jupiter 2, it would have crashed a few kilometers away, and we would have already heard her apologizing for the inconvenience and wish us well on a journey to Alpha Centauri."

Don droned on the possibility then grew a smug grin over the entire matter as the other men quietly ate their meal. He took another bite of the BLT then chewed and swallowed. The lieutenant colonel then resumed on his potential view of how things could have played out.

"And we would have been obligated to come over, destroy his infestation and secure him, cure him, and make sure that he was returned to the land of anti-matter . . . and he would try to stop at us every step of the plan."

The men laughed.


	37. Chapter 37

Joshua's eyes opened to spot the eyes of his parents resting around him.

"Mom? Dad?" Joshua asked. "Why do you look so beat up?"

Judy snapped out of her trance letting go of Don's hand then abruptly hugged her son.

"Mom!"

Don snapped to then joined in the hug.

"Dad?"

They were quiet asides to the sounds of crying.

"Why are you crying?"

Don only held his small family tighter holding on to what he could lose so easily with a single stroke of a hand, a single press of a button, and a single mistake that he could easily make without intending to. The boy frowned initially then relaxed, assuring himself they would talk after the long hug, allowing it to continue in his tired state of being and the fright that he had only felt only moments go melted away.

* * *

"Robot, what do your classified tapes tell you regarding Doctor Smith's involvement with the Family Program after the accomplishment of the Jupiter Program?" Don asked.

Don had decided to throw the question out in the middle of dinner after Joshua had been informed of his medical condition (and surprisingly, took it with stride, standing triumphant, crying out 'Space can't kill me so my body has came to the platform!") once having a well deserved shower. Everyone's attention became keenly focused on the tall machine. The machine was quiet on the matter for a very long moment as the family resumed eating waiting for him to speak.

Abruptly, Robot started to speak and everyone paused finishing their meals looking toward him.

"Professor Robinson referred to it as the Jupiter program." Robot said.

"But?" Maureen asked.

"Everyone else called it the family program." Robot said, simply.

"That is enlightening." Judy said, amused.

"The Jupiter 2 was never rescued, Doctor Smith never returned to Earth after fleeing, the Robinsons were shot down by the Kavalarians, and Major West abandoned the Jupiter 2 in a space pod with supplies then never came back." Robot said. "The mission program was accomplished by the Jupiter 3 that was launched shortly after their abrupt departure."

"Wait," Don said. "You just mentioned one Smith. What happened to the _other_ Smith?"

"This does not compute." Robot said.

"Robot, he went back to Earth." Will said. "Your Earth."

"Ah. I see the problem here." Robot said. "You are under the impression that Doctor Smith returned to the same moment in which he left."

"He did." Penny said.

"We saw it." Will said.

"Doctor Smith's return made a entirely new timeline." Robot said.

"Then you must be from the original timeline . . ." Will said. "The one in which he never came back."

"He never made it through with us." John's features relaxed.

"It has to be the Kavalarian episode where he died a second time." Will suggested. The Robinsons winced at the memories of the event. "The first time it happened. That's when he died in the _original_ timeline."

"That make sense." John nodded in agreement, slowly.

The women looked aside, almost dully, distantly at what could have been.

"Then that makes us alternates." Judy said. "Doesn't it?"

"We're all prime versions of ourselves long as we stay true to who we are." Maureen said.

"His 'children' didn't seem to be interested in him as how injured that he was in our timeline." Don piped up. "I can't imagine. . ."

"I can."

Will spoke up drawing the attention of the family lowering his gaze quite haunted by the memory.

"How, son?" John asked.

"I had a nightmare a decade ago about it when I was ill." Will admitted then slowly went on to continue the thought. "When Doctor Smith was still with us."

Silence fell upon the crew as Don frowned thinking over the situation.

"What was it that made his children not eat him this time?" Don gave life to the question that was on everyone's mind. "What was it?"

Will grimaced at the thought of Smith sacrificing himself to help his family escape the Kavalarians. It tore at his heart to think it happened at all as the Robinsons escaped with their lives, intact, unharmed, and back at their adventure once more searching for Alpha Centauri.

Nobody wanted to speak but they were guessing just as the lieutenant colonel was. The entire concept that they buried what was left of him a second time on the nearest planet and hold a funeral for him was enough to have a little piece of them die to have lived through that.

"I saw his baby spiders start to eat him alive." Will commented, quietly.

Maureen looked toward her younger son.

"Hope goes a long way in the bleakness of a dark world." Maureen said.

"Hmm. . . she is right." Don said then had a shrug. "It helped us get to have a tomorrow."

"Doctor Smith may have never returned to the original timeline but we came across his alternate counterpart prior to the demise of the expedition to Alpha Prime A." Robot elaborated.

"How similar?" John asked.

"Before I begin, his counterpart requested that we call him Isaac Gampu." The family gasped at once exchanging glances. "He was quite upset when we first came across him and kept insisting that the family unit was not the Robinsons as . . ."

John held his hand up stopping Robot from continuing his reply.

"Robot, just play."

Robot turned away then a bright light illuminated across from the Robinsons and a high definition screen formed. It was all pixels at first then it became crystal clear to them in a matter of a moment.

_"I am not Doctor Smith."_

The Robinsons gasped and Will leaned forward as they stared at the screen.

_"Yes, you are." Was the flat reply of the tall thirteen year old._

"That's . . . Tha-That's not him." Will said. "I mean, he has his face, but. . ."

"He doesn't have facial hair." Don said.

Robot didn't say a word.

"Doctor Smith of your timeline had a goatee, Robot." Judy reminded.

_"William, why don't you believe me?" Isaac asked, crestfallen._

"Is that what he looked like?" Joshua asked. "The other Doctor Smith."

"Yes, Joshua." Judy looked over toward him then nodded, solemnly. "Only less grayer."

"And a little more youthful." Don chimed in and the family laughed.

_"Because you are a monster." was the younger Will's reply then shrugged. "You said so yourself. No one is supposed to believe monsters in any shape or form they are about who they are." And the pre-teen walked on ahead of him._

_The Smith-alike turned away then walked on ahead of Robot then came to a pause surrounded by boulders then started to fall down to his knees clasping a hand on to his forehead and wept. His crying was silent but the sniffles were soft but loud. He cried for several minutes at a time then raised himself up using the nearest boulder as his support to his feet then turned to face the machine with red eyes and tear stained cheeks._

_"Go away!"_

_"Negative."_

_"Why don't you let me be alone for five seconds?"_

_"I believe you are not Doctor Smith."_

_The older man was floored._

_"Why?"_

_"You do have some similar mind waves to him." Robot said.  
_

_"How similar?" He lifted a brow._

_"You see yourself as a human." Isaac was struck by the comment then proceeded to smile. "And you are trying to be better while being greedy, self-absorbed, but a intelligent and scientific man."  
_

_"I was a different man when I left Earth. . ." Isaac admitted, looking aside, sorrowfully.  
_

_"How can I help?" Robot asked._

_Isaac shifted his attention upon Robot then smiled._

_"By not helping me at all." Isaac said then walked away._

The video paused and the Robinsons were silent as they stared at the machine that was across from them. Robot was quiet as his helm bobbed down. It was quiet at the table as the Robinsons processed slowly what it meant. A process that lasted for five minutes. It was John who started to speak.

"Did he leave the anti-matter Robinsons with them aware?"

"That is a question that can be answered by another scene from his time with them." Robot replied.

The image flickered and a entirely different scene featuring a different version of the family appeared seated at a table outside of the large craft across from them in a dark, bleak, and dreary scenery that showed against the warm but barren environment of the planet they were calling home. Two bars appeared, twirling, then appeared a triangle shaped object that twirled as well then it vanished.

_"How are we going to politely tell him that he is insane and we want him in one of the cryostastis pods?" the man with the beard asked._

_"We just tell him." came the beardless man with dark hair. "If we are being honest with them then we tell it from where we are making this decision form."_

_"I like to do that, Don."_ John watched, as it occurred to him who this man was, then felt his heart break at the stranger who's hair was graying sooner and his beard was sorrowfully long. _"But, he would get a bad view of us very quickly and if we cross paths with him a second time then whatever problem he is in then he won't hand himself over to the people chasing him."_

_"Unlike the man that he is pretending to be." Will said.  
_

_The anti-matter John nodded back._

_"Which he is not, son."_

_"Only one thing is certain, Professor." The woman from across him with dark red hair started. "Doctor Smith has cracked and he needs help."_

_"Which means he has found his cure since he doesn't look anything like a alien or have the wound in his back." the major replied. "Odd." he leaned back into the chair tapping his fingers on the counter. "Hasn't even gone back to Earth." he grew puzzled at the thought that crossed his mind. "Thought he hated space."_

_"Did he?" Maureen asked._

_"I don't know." Will shrugged._

_"I didn't know him well." Penny replied._

_"Neither did I." Judy said._

_"None of us hung around him." Will said._

_The pilot laughed and laughed, shaking his head, thoroughly amused._

_"I am the only one who knows a damn thing about him and hates his guts." The counterpart to the major began to talk. "He hated space with every fiber of his body. He may have crossed paths with the man before he had a nervous breakdown and never recovered from that."  
_

_"Robot, we need you to decide how to best handle the problem." the counterpart to the mayor informed the machine._

_Robot's helm twirled._

_"Never fear, Gampu is leaving."_

_Robot, West, and Judy turned toward the man descending down the stairs. The change was complete; he had a stubble that was prominently ready to become a goatee. The only piece left of his attachment to the world that he had fled was thrown away. And he was closer to the person that had left the world only a matter of time ago.  
_

_"Obviously, I am not welcomed here." Isaac said._

_"You are not quite sane, Smith." John said. "We can help you."_

_Isaac lifted a brow, incredulously, then regarded the family and his gaze fell upon the taller man._

_"Helping a perfectly sane man? No, too late." Isaac shook his head with a grim look. "Your actions have told me enough."_

_"What have our actions told you?" John asked._

_"You don't accept me for who I am." Isaac said as he descended down the platform. "I thought you would this time around. . ."_

_"This time around?" West asked. "What little can change with a man who cracked in space?"_

_Isaac's mood soured as he glared toward the major and silenced him and he stopped in front of the table._

_"I thought it would be . ." his tone changed. "- **different** -" he grew upset, briefly, heartbroken then closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "being here."_

_"What you remember isn't real." The younger woman stood up to her feet then started to approach as Isaac kept his ground as his eyes opened turning his attention upon her. "Never was real."_

_"It WAS real to me!" Isaac roared. "It happened! I didn't just dream it up! That everything all better and kind-"_

_"Being betrayed by a version of my family that lead to your untimely demise, being kidnapped by said family, given to another family, being taken to our world by a mad scientist, being displaced into the past, starting Smythe's bar, and meeting up with us?" West gestured toward the crowd with a incredulous tone then lowered his hand down to his hip and glared back at him. "That doesn't remotely sound real."_

_Isaac sighed, lowering his head, exasperated._

_"If you only knew me."_

_Isaac started to say, lifting his head up, facing the family._

_"If you ever_ bothered _to get to know me, hang around me, throw away your disgust and anger with my actions that lead you to being lost."_

_Isaac shook his head._

_"Like they did? Your imaginary family that saw through your 'terrorist'?" Isaac's face grew darker from the professor's comment. "Terrorists aren't ones to welcome into families, Doctor Smith."_

_"And you all," his eyes regarded the family. "You are all imposters of the kindest people in space. Frauds! Scheming! Traitors! That is what you are!"  
_

_Isaac regarded them, bitterly, sorrowfully, but pitifully at what they could have had with a foul tone as they glared back at him.  
_

_"Good-bye, cruel anti-matter family." Isaac proceeded to walk away. "I can forgive the pro-matter Robinsons, but not you for how you treated a old friend."  
_

_And the older man walked away as the scene ended._

It was quiet at the dinner table as the older women of the Robinsons used their sleeves to wipe of angry tears at the events that had transpired. Joshua and Eddie could only stare in shock. Some of the Robinsons's hearts were hurt by the man's words and Judy's heart was broken the most.

Penny broke up into tears so Don patted the younger woman on the back ever so lightly as she wept into her hand. Maureen reached out then squeezed the professor's hand. He squeezed her hand with his other hand placed on top of her own. Will's normally composed and flat hands had become the shape of a fist then he got up from the table and marched off.

"I am throwing some stones out at the lake." Will announced.

Will took out a laser pistol and a holster then departed the Jupiter 2.

"When did they die?" John asked once Will was out of the ship.

"Twenty-four hours later." Robot reported. "They were concerned that he had fallen deep into his delusion. Will informed me of their intentions."

"They never believed him one minute." Don said. "Not one moment. . ."

"And they walked into their demise." Penny finished, grimly.

"That was the Kavalarians doing." Robot said. "Major West informed me they were ambushed, wounded, and fled for their lives."

"That was a training exercise." Don noted. "And he thought that Smith was responsible."

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"Dad. . ." Penny said. "I don't know how. But, that was our version of Doctor Smith."

"Robot, what happened to Gampu?" John asked.

"In the last two hundred years since the failure of the Robinson expedition, he became a space faring captain in the United System Space Force that was revised by the United Nations of Alpha Prime A with a well decorated record."

The Robinsons were quiet.

"The United Global Space Force presence in space is rather quite small. Not big enough to form a army around the colonies."

John cleared his throat.

"What happened to Gampu?" John asked.

"When he visited, he tended to vanish and it was hard to find him." Robot reported. "I found someone referring to themselves by Master Fagon with his face and voice."

"But?" Maureen lifted a brow.

"He was a _magician._ " Robot sounded exasperated, as if he had told this to people before long ago with the man in the background surrounded by children and officials wanting to speak with him. "Isaac Gampu is a man of science not of trickery and deception."

* * *

Will quietly walked into the lair and the lights above his head beamed to life above him displaying the colorful decorations about the room with cobwebs. Will picked up a large wooden object then waved the cobwebs away with some difficulty. He gathered the cobwebs into a single ball of string at the top of the wooden object then discarded it on the table. He came over to a guide that was set on the wall indicating services then scanned the console full of buttons.

"Ah ha, there is the update button!" Will announced.

He pressed a faintly blue glowing button then withdrew his hand.

"Update, update, update, update. . ." Will's eyes were locked on the scene ahead of him. "Update."

The screen changed with a loud audible pop with a new set of rows that featured different names, different icons, but with the same familiar art style. He searched the row of names with a finger pointed at the names until he came across the name that was in apparent English. Will walked over to the machine set on the counter then sat down into a chair. He took out his handkerchief then carefully dusted it off until the bright gold theme stood out.

"Telegram." The word was old and unfamiliar to him after having not said for it so long. It was archaic. "Just what I wanted. . . Now how do I use it."

He covered his mouth with his hand looking upon it as he vaguely recalled how to operate it, his red brows knitted together, staring down upon it quite perplexed. Abruptly his eyebrows shot up as he took his hand off and snapped his fingers sporting a grin.

"We used this a lot on the long journey back to the right galaxy in the wild west towns to contact local mine owners!"

He proceeded to use the machine after selecting the button, ' _Dana's Starship Delivery services_ ' putting in a offer of two cans of deutronium and a date that the ship could arrive for his personal adventure. Will leaned back into the seat then checked for the status of the message reaching the destination. On the bulletin board with rolling pins that had text upon them appeared in blue text; _message received._ A smile began to appear from the corners of his mouth looking upon the board and got up from the seat.

With a smile, the young man walked away from the device toward the way out of the building. He came to a pause in front of the cavern entrance then leaned against it trembling with rage and hurt. The boy had a second chance at a friendship and didn't take it. _He was so stupid. More stupid than anyone I had known. We were less stupid than they were. _

"They didn't need to die." Will reflected out loud with a shake of his head. "They were supposed to survive and embrace others not reject them!"

Will threw his hands in the air, incredulously, but at a loss of words that suited what he felt.

"What went so _wrong_ in their anti-matter world?" Will gave life to the questions that were suddenly coming to him all at once. "Was it the same kind of wrong that separated John and Drun from the rest of the family in the anti-matter world . . . Come to think of it, where were they? Were they dead? Were they still as lost? Were they at Earth?"

He paced back and forth thinking it over with one arm cupping his elbow and the other rubbing his chin, in deep consideration.

"Were they . . ." he paused in his tracks then frowned and in a moment those features fell as his heart started to break. "Were the family searching for their prison planet when we had that adventure?" _  
_

His family's story with Smith had been built on delicate ingredients of a tragedy. But the story of the alternate universe anti-matter Robinsons were of a dark novel with a warranted ending. That was the jarring difference that even as a child, Will still didn't like to think about as he watched the younger Smith lower his walls and allow them in then much to his own displeasure part himself away from the Robinsons quite reluctantly.

"Why was Will so biased against monsters?" _  
_

Will was greeted by silence in the cavern. He tried to imagine on some nights on the circumstance that Smith had personally told him how it had went down and how it had been relayed to him how it had played out by the professor to the best of his ability after he had fallen out of the picture.

Monsters were so delicate in being made but so were life long allies and sowing the seeds of love in general that came with acceptance, forgiveness, redemption, and sacrifice. Last of all; family, belonging, and wholesome. Smith would have never came to them in fear of the looks of their counterparts faces and their actions regarding his state of being morphing to his counter part as time wore on. _Not just in fear,_ Will amended, _but not have fled from them in a dully deserved hate and disgust._

Will folded his arms.

"It's a shame that they closed their hearts off from him and don't know why he acted the way that he did toward them."

Will looked upon a large artifact that was cracked and ready to fall apart as a piece of it fell off. His fingers rolled up into a fist then he raised his arm up, yanked back his arm by the elbow, and aimed for the crippled artifact then threw the blow. With a hard punch the rock crumbled into several pieces falling off the platform that kept it up.

"That doesn't matter now, Will." Will looked aside looking back as he grew assured over the issue and his anger began to fall. "He went to make a better future that his counterpart wasn't available for."

Will looked out the cavern entrance looking on toward the unknown as he looked back and imagined the older man's future playing out differently than it had the first time around. He imagined how it could have gone and the planet not being the one in which they were stranded on. He tried to imagine it but there was little to imagine as they wouldn't have been there. And the cadets teamwork, confidence, and capabilities showing through they could handle the situation easing concerns of the survivors.

"I know he did."

His smile grew into a grin.

"It is his destiny."

Will's fist loosened then departed from the chamber with loose shoulders.

"He is okay, Will."

His old friends would have agreed in unison by his side, _"Affirmative."_ and _"A man like him could make his destiny a noble one as the major has so elegantly worded it."_ and the Robot's retort, _"Major West reportedly did not word it that way."_ echoed in his mind. Will began to smirk at the imaginary conversation that was playing out in his mind as his heart ached gently beneath his chest listening to the ghostly baa that played after Robot's initial response. His heart ached with waves of fondness, sadness, and warmth.

"His character makes that set in stone."

And the words were easing for him as he made his walk back to the Jupiter 2 but then he paused in his tracks under the moonlight. The idea echoed in his mind. _Why don't you get them lost?_ Will frowned as he were struck by a reminder. _No, they knew his part in Robot's rampage._ He weighed the thought carefully in his mind then resumed walking and set the idea aside for later consideration.

He walked with his heart lacking the anger that had been seeded from the mere display of the wrong version of his family. The family that in all respects should have been kinder and accepting for who he claimed to be as they survived in space. It all could have been avoided if they _were_ the Robinsons.

"They probably have a lot of storms raging on at Earth with two Doctor Smith's from two different worlds in the same world."

And Will's laughter echoed once voicing the thought.

* * *

Dana took the paper off the slot.

"Oh! The kind and helpful Will Robinson needs a ship for a small trip!" Dana smiled. "Then he will get one!"

Dana grinned then made a slow walk to the hangar of ships. He scanned each of the models searching for just the right one starting from the largest one to the smaller models with his finger pointing at the 'for sell' slot with the number of canisters needed to purchase them. Eventually, he came to the medium sized spacecrafts with a small staircase leading up that was made of steel. Then, Dana referred to the paper.

"Need to be here by Friday. . ." he returned to the lair then pressed several buttons and on the screen appeared the coordinates. "That is only four days away."

Dana tapped on the counter as he carefully thought it over.

"Hmm, I can get it there by Thursday. . ." Dana mumbled to himself. "So that is only three days."

Dana went over to a large console then typed into it the coordinates in which the telegram was sent from. He waved a hand bringing upon two assistants standing side by side coated in silver and gadgets. He handed them a small brown nap sack that had been stitched together multiple times with square colorful cloth that contrasted against the other then pointed toward the craft.

"Will Robinson will pay for his fee. Take your trip back with the mobile maser beam unit."

The assistants buzzed then entered the craft.

The spacecraft vanished in a puff of dark smoke before his eyes

* * *

The family were gathered at the bridge of the Jupiter 2 surrounding the young boy with dark hair. His blue eyes were focused on toward the members of his family regarding them with fondness and confidence while in his silver themed uniform that had a secondary gray theme to it on the shoulder bands that seemed to be more stuffy, square, and stiff.

"I am going to be okay, mom, dad, grandpa, grandma." Joshua assured. "We'll be at Alpha Centauri when you want to wake me up."

"And if not, we will have that insulin ready in bulk for you." Don said.

"It's going to be quite lonely without you, big brother." Eddie said.

"There is Robot part of the family, Edvard." Joshua said then winked back in the direction of the taller machine. "He can still get you into trouble."

"Trouble?" Robot repeated, bobbing his helm up. "Trouble!" Robot extended a claw out of his chassis then waved it in the air. "Baaaaahhh huummm buuug!"

The family had a light bemused laughter with that comment from Robot. It was Eddie who hugged Joshua then so did Penny, Debbie, Judy, Don, Maureen, and John in one group hug as Robot remained stationed to the side. Eventually, it was Joshua who backed out of the hug then went into the freezing tube. He slid on his silver gloves with a grin then set his hands along to his side.

"Good night, Joshua." Don said.

"See you in the morning, dad." Joshua waved back at Don.

Don pressed the side button then backed off and watched as the tube glowed gold from the inside. Judy was on the brink of tear so John reached a hand forward then planted his hand on her shoulder. She turned toward the mayor to see that he wore a reassuring but sympathetic expression. Judy patted on his hand then they went toward the doorway to the lower decks with Robot pressing a button that opened the door then was the last of the crew to depart for the lower decks.

One by one the members of the Robinsons went to their cabins except for Penny and Judy. Judy squeezed the hand of the lieutenant colonel then Don slipped out of the handkerchief and handed it to her. Judy watched him go into their shared cabin while her parents went to their shared cabin. The door to the saucer opened letting in the familiar visitor of the Jupiter 2 and Will seemed more at ease than how how he had last been seen.

"Do you feel better, Will?" Penny asked.

"I feel a lot better, Penny." Will said with a nod. "Has Joshua been put to sleep?"

"He is in his freezing tube." Judy said as she used the lieutenant colonel's handkerchief to wipe her tears away.

"I feel bad that I didn't get quite say good-bye." Will said with a shake of his head and shame.

"It's okay, Will." Judy said as she joined his side then put a hand on the side of his shoulder and smiled. "You will see him again after this time anomaly adventure is over."

Will grinned.

"Good night, Judy." Will said then went to his cabin.

And the women followed.

* * *

"Takuchi Seven, Beta Five, Tremfya, Vahalla, Papis Four all have teams laying in wait for the spider to pop up." Bazoon said while spinning a small goblet on the table alongside. It was a transparent goblet with a blue rim and a lower handle part beneath it that was connected to the base of the goblet. "And so far there has been nothing coming out of it."

"It's strange," Mozor agreed then sipped from her cup. "We have seen the spider prowling about in the time anomalies but. . ."

"It is as if it still has a mind and cares about harming others." Bazoon said.

"Isn't that weird?" Mozor asked with a puzzled frown looking toward Bazoon. "That in those timelines, the spider isn't interested in attacking us unlike how-"

"Last time he made us watch him eat one of our own." Bazoon cut off Mozor with a grim expression. "I recall."

"We have to report to the queen that she has to come here herself and get him." Mozor said.

Bazoon loudly laughed, leaning back into the chair, as the laughter vibrated through his being.

"And lose our prized ruler? That is unacceptable!" Bazoon announced then shook his index finger. "Two Queen Madullas would end up in a death of a queen."

"Horrible, even." Mozor noted.

"If she were interested in that then she would make herself be known." Bazoon finished the trail of thought.

Mozor looked toward Bazoon.

"Do you still have the nightmares?" Mozor asked.

"Every night." Bazoon replied, quietly.

"I have them. . . sometimes." Mozor said.

"I thought you woke up crying because of dreams where space cats are eaten by space dogs." Bazoon said, quite shocked.

"You never know people." Mozor said.

"I wake up screaming." He beckoned Mozor on with a single gesture then shook his hand. "Send the report to the queen."

Mozor peered out the window.

"I don't seem to understand how the Robinsons act as if we aren't there." Mozor said. "Except for the various versions of Smith, he seems to hesitate before leaving."

"She must be eager to hear if he has intruded in this time anomaly." Bazoon said.

Mozor glared out the window of the ship.

"We just had him the first time a few days ago," Mozor complained.

"If only events went differently." Bazoon commented. "Then we wouldn't need to wait for him."

"That much is true, Bazoon." Mozor noted as Bazoon grimaced seating down into the nearest chair that turned into a pout. "However, we must look at what we did succeed at."

"Which wasn't much." Bazoon reminded.

"We _did_ leave the planet, we _did_ have him surrounded by the best guards, we _did_ have the best retrieval specialists there were who went in after him into the time anomaly after he made his initial escape and dragged him back. We _did_ triumph while he was defeated pleading for his life. We _did_ get brought down by the saucer's anti-magnetic drive way from a couple thousand light years away from the planet, we _did_ have to return to the area that we had flown out of, and _did_ damage the internal ship systems a deal."

"How did they do that?" Bazoon asked, curious but quite troubled. "Most anti-magnetic drive rays work when the ship in question is in their orbit."

"Anything is possible for the Robinsons." Mozor supplied.

Bazoon shrugged as the man was now staring toward their direction with Robot by his side staring at their ship. He held a hand out dismissing the machine that stood roughly to his height then began to walk on over the ridge then slid down the ridge.

"Oh!" Bazoon cried. "It's happening the same way! Just the way it happened the first time around!"

"Except the boy isn't there." Mozor said.

"That is odd." Bazoon commented as the older man paused then raised his head up and made a bolt for it.

"What's wrong?" Mozor asked, bewildered.

"I don't know but I get the feeling that something is incredibly wrong outside of this ship."

Bazoon was deeply worried and concerned watching the man return to the machine's side and shriek as he ran off ahead so the machine followed him. Something was going on out there. Bazoon turned on the ancient equipment that had once been used for a sound pick up unit so a loud rumble echoed through the ship.

"Look!" Mozor shrieked, leaning forward, with hands on the console then lifted a hand up pointing in the direction of the disturbed land. "There are cracks appearing on the surface of Takuchi Seven!"

"We have to leave, now!" Bazoon shrieked as the ship waved from side to side and Mozor threw herself forward onto the console as her companion collapsed to the ground from the sudden slide. "The planet is unstable!"

* * *

The sound of the ground cracking beneath around the Jupiter 2 awoke the family in the early morning from their slumber. The family gathered to the auxiliary deck watching as the ground ahead of them shifted with groans of protest and steam arising up in the distance. There were trees that lingered in the landscape tipped over falling into a newly made gulley resting ahead of them.

John and Maureen clenched hands as the members of the Robinsons hearts were racing.

"Is everyone okay?" Don asked.

"Scared." Penny said.

"So am I." Eddie agreed with a gulp.

"That was the loudest I have ever heard coming from a quake." Maureen said.

"So many . . ." John said.

"Oh God." Don said. "Like a disaster came in."

"We have to get to that telegram machine." John said.

"The anomalies are over." Will's voice came out softly.

The family watched as the distant stages of Trob-lular in different time periods faded but the damage had already been done. Don turned toward Judy then squeezed her hand as she looked on afraid toward the area ahead of the family as the other members of the family retreated into the ship. The area around the Jupiter 2 was apparently intact with little signs for wear.

"If that time anomaly comes back-"

"I'll wait for you."

"Don't." Don said as he watched her heart break.

"But, Don, that won't be the best case." Judy protested against Don's request.

"It would be best that you get the children to Alpha Centauri." He clasped the side of her shoulders. "Do you want Eddie to wander in then the time anomaly to close behind her that time?"

"No." Judy replied as she frowned then grew resolved as she nodded. "I do not."

"Then why do you . . . "'

"Losing her brother then her father for a unspecific amount of time? Time that may longer be the times you and father were gone? Eddie won't be happy. She will be the saddest I have seen her like that one time we had a alien guest and you were presumed dead."

Don's features softened then he smiled upon her.

"We will get our ride and join you." Don said. "Spending her childhood on Gamma with the other colonists is far better then spending her entire life waiting for us."

"We have made so many plans only for them not to be used at all." Judy said.

"It's better than having none when we don't come back."

Don's hands moved to her hands with a slow descent down her shoulders then into her hands that he squeezed. Judy nodded then walked away from the lieutenant colonel and faced the direction of the scene watching rain be pelted upon the land ahead of him. A loud roar of thunder struck nearby. It used to frighten him long ago but the sound of a boom in a time where time was passing and survival was back on the mind brought upon a certain fear and anxiety.

He turned around facing the young girl in a blue, orange, and white junior grade uniform with her hands linked behind her back. Don approached Eddie and talked to her in a voice that was lower than how he talked to her usually which wasn't often. She listened to how he retold the short stories of horror about Will and Penny growing up in space and how they had the opportunity to spend it with children their age and that is what he wanted, his presence there or not, determined to prevent his own offspring from spending a eternity in space as he had.

Don stopped once he saw that she understood then squeezed the side of her shoulder, lightly. He got up then departed and went into his shared cabin where he changed into his morning outfit. Quietly, he joined the mayor and Will in the Chariot then they drove off from the Jupiter 2 with Robot on alert on the lower decks detecting for danger. Will stared at the changed scenery that was more evident than it once had been but less severe than the newly formed gulley. He watched the once familiar landscape stand out as different and unique compared to how he had last seen it.

It was concerning him in ways that he hadn't quite imagined.

It became more drastic and important that the ship get there sooner.

* * *

The small scouting vessel landed back where it had departed only hours ago on to a crumbled crater. Mozor and Bazoon departed from the ship then climbed up the mound and paused spotting the changed scenery made it close to impossible to see what had changed or the time anomalies that were going on with the newly formed mountains that rose into the night sky unlike the Robinson men freely allowed to see their natural surroundings.

Will watched lazily as the scenery became more familiar by the passing moment until the Chariot came to a pause. The men disembarked the Chariot then made a run for the tunnel ahead of them. Will took off pieces of rock from the equipment and dusted it off as Don whistled looking around the area and John scanned it quite warily.

"When was the last time that someone was here?" Don asked.

"Not that long ago." Will said.

"Looks like a time anomaly disturbed this tunnel." John noted then looked upon the telegram device. "Hello old friend. How do I use you?"

"I don't recall how to use that thing either." Don said.

"I do," Will said. "Here, it works by morse code. Just tap on the key. It all depends how long you've held the key. Think of the letters as someone walking."

"Footsteps?" 

"Uh huh."

He pressed a button and a panel became revealed to the professor regarding the issue.

"I see."

"Okay, now let me give you a example. I'll make a long message to anyone in general."

Will put in a short cable then proceeded to make his comment. 

"But you have to start slow then speed up as you go." Will replied. "Standard rule."

"Hmm. . . that is interesting." John commented.

"What did you send?" Don asked once Will finished.

"To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it." Will said. "Something that Doctor Smith said in the first month he were with us."

"That much is true. . ." Don said. 

"Got it, dad?" Will looked toward the mayor.  


The mayor was rubbing his chin as he contemplated what had been explained then shifted his attention up toward Will.

"I got a rough idea." John said as Will backed off.

"Dad, I am taking Makin to his timeline and then making a return trip back." Will announced. 

"Do you have anything to use for his quantum signature locator?" John asked.

"Doctor Smith's cloak." Will said.

"I don't recall that he brought it in." John's brows furrowed once saying the comment out loud.

"I did." Don said. "I brought it along for . . . well. . . should the worst was to happen and he went off the deep end and started being all gloomy." he shook his hands in mid-air, leaning back from the chair, his fingers fluttering. "I figured Maureen wouldn't be too happy to make a depressing uniform."

"Is it exactly the way you found it?" John lifted a brow.

"I have kept it hidden in the power core for so long that time hasn't touched it." Then Don coughed into his fist. "In a box."

"However," John said. "If you find Professor Eglardo, you have to try and convince him to end his experiments."

Will nodded, gravely.

"I will." Will said. "If I don't succeed in that. . ."

"Then we will get to the queen and do what we intended with Robot's help." John replied. "We give you two weeks. If nothing happens then we go."

"What is at stake is higher than having Doctor Smith back as he is in a new timeline so I won't be doing any dilly dallying." Will commented.

"We don't have a piece of his belongings to give directions to which timeline he is in anyway." Don mentioned with a wave of his hand.

"Doesn't it concern anyone that there are anti-matter and pro-matter in the same world?" Will asked.

"Let them be hoisted by their own petard, Will." John told his son. "The ones who can solve the problem won't be listened to."

"Just as they did that lead to their planet's death." Will said.

"And I think that will be Global Sedition trying to solve everyone's problems by returning him to where he _should_ be."

"If they figure it out quickly." Don added.

" _If._ " John said, shifting his attention toward the lieutenant colonel as Will began to walk away quietly. "That is a big if."

"If they are smart as our scientists on Earth." Don said.

"They figured out Earth was dying, I am sure they are very smart people." John said.

"They do have terrible weather there." Don reminded. "People would be dismissive of it."

"If the lightning strikes are becoming severe over time on Earth in one specific spot where he is being held;it will be hard to dismiss that as a electrical storm." John said as Will turned away from the mouth of the cave and smiled at them - if only briefly - then walked out of the cave.

"Okay, now that is _really_ hard to dismiss." Don said.

The mayor shrugged.

"Or, in the idea of the multiverse, nothing may happen just like it did fighting my anti-matter counterpart on the bridge." John concluded.

"What is the possibility that two Smiths would be on the same planet?" Don asked.

"The anti-matter and pro-matter. . . That would be a disaster of _massive_ proportions." John acknowledged with a grimace.

"Everyones worst nightmare." Don said. "Even Chronos."

"Even him." John said. "It could be his doing that prevented utter destruction in that fight."

"What would have happened if he hadn't had a hand?" Don asked, curiously.

"The entire universe would explode if those beings of two different matters touched the other or breathed in the same space." John grew grim once making the grave comment and with it brought a brown to the major. "Sharing the same world but apart is a different matter."

Don weighed the thought in his mind.

"This matter is deeply concerning, John." Don said. "But, I really doubt they would return their Smith to their Earth and have them in the same room."

"That has a one chance of happening given what I think Mission Control of Earth would want to provide justice for the other lost ship." John replied as he leaned back in the chair then lifted a brow. "You know how Smith kept insisting that he would die upon returning to Earth if he were cured."

"I do . . ." Don said. "I do."

Then John went on to use the telegram much to Will's instructions.

* * *

Storms struck the area close to the prison that Doctor Smith was held in. The general observed the roar of thunder striking sometimes in the evening and loudly in the night from a safe distance. He stared in confusion at the abnormality. It had started since the beginning of his incarceration in prison while awaiting his prison sentence and it was gradually becoming worrisome as the area around it were becoming severely damaged and cars were being pounded upon by the thunder.

Nobody was aware that anything was going wrong. Nobody was aware hat anything was wrong for that matter. Nobody questioned the thunder and tapered off the thunder prone area as restricted. The general stared toward the night sky from his van side window staring on watching the sky be highlighted by electrical neon blue light that almost made it seem the sky was cracking in half and prepared to fall.

"Thank God that we have the air cars." Goddard said. "If we didn't have that, it would be impossible to enter the prison."

He peered out the dark brown window.

"Strange. . . How each repair is destroyed." Goddard said. "Almost as if . . " He grimaced at the thought. "As if the lightning is sapient."

He watched what had once been the road crack with some craters formed around the facility.

A dying planet, Earth, that was throwing a fit on one specific part of the world and it wasn't happening anywhere else.

Right where Smith was being held at.

_Odd._

* * *

Dana took the paper off the machine and read the order. He rubbed his chin then returned to the fleet of starships for what the customers had in store. He came to a pause in front of a spacecraft that resembled a rounded pill that was half white and half red with windows on the side on the upper half that had the red portion and it had four legs below it including a staircase. Dana jotted down the customer receipt then walked away and returned to the console.

"Should be there within five business days." Dana jotted back.

Dana withdrew his hand then heard a audible message in morse code that said: _Thank you._

Dana smiled.


	38. Chapter 38

Will came down the ladder to the engineering deck of the Jupiter 2. It had been a long time since he had been here, far too long, far too long since he had killed his greatest representation of fear. It felt as if it had been a complete age since he came down this room-no, it had only been a year ago when dealing with a alien infestation that spread from deck to deck and cocooned his family. Will searched in the dark until he tripped over the box then stumbled to his knees. Will laughed at himself for a few minutes.

After the bout of laughter, Will smiled then straightened himself up and picked the box up. He made his trek up the stairs then into the primary deck of the Jupiter 2. He set the box on to the counter then opened the box with great care leaving the lid to the side. The inside of the box was dark and gloomy. It looked nice and folded to his eyes even with the distinctive usual mist hovering above the contents of the box that reminded him of light rain clouds.

Will took out the large cloak that the man had once worn for a short period of time. It was dark with hints of modification decorating it with the seams standing out against the dark theme. It was smooth to the touch with a vest that had improvised pockets decorating it. He spotted several small needles in there with rolls of string wrapped around pieces of a engine. Will stared at it for a solid moment contemplating whether or not to draw the item out of the pocket.

Will recalled all the other times that Doctor Smith picked something up and it changed to his hands and after he had left, it reverted to its previous form. He closed his hand then looked on toward the window of the Jupiter 2. He looked back down upon the uniform that had little belongings that his old friend had left behind in such a way that was relatively small and insignificant but significant enough to tell that he cared for his cloak quite dearly as a upkeeping of his new persona. He carefully tucked the unchanged cloak back into the box.

Will covered the box up with the lid then hid it in his cabin.

With that, Will dusted his hands off then turned in the direction of a new comer.

"Eddie." Will said. "Why aren't you fast asleep?"

"I couldn't sleep." Eddie said as she leaned against the frame. "What's that?"

"It's a box with a quantum signature to get Makin back to his timeline."

"That's another adventure for you, isn't it." Eddie said.

"Yes," Will nodded, quite grim, back toward Eddie.

"Can I go with you?" Eddie asked.

"Eddie . . ." Will started then sighed and sat down along the edge of his bed. "Where I am going is extremely dangerous."

"And running away from aliens isn't?" Eddie asked.

Will chuckled then smiled.

"It is." Will said. "It's a place that you don't belong in."

"You're going where you don't belong." Eddie reminded Will.

"Because I am old enough." Will said. "You are not."

"I heard you went places that were dark and dangerous-"

"That was AFTER he died." Will interjected.

"And you were alright." Eddie finished.

"We had still Robot then . . ."

Will grimaced as he looked back to the long and miserable era after the demise of the older man. How gloomy, how dark, and bleak it was, how surreal it was, it was as if they had entered the cruelest form of hell in every kind of way having to leave their friends behind, their allies behind, it was crueler leaving them in the hands of cruelty instead of being able to fix the mess. But there was still hope that they could get out of the muck with Robot by his side.

"And he is here now." Eddie said.

"He isn't going to come." Will shook his head.

"What is the difference between this era and that era?" Eddie asked.

"It was a dark period and we didn't have a choice to go into those situations. It was against our will. But, we had to go there." Will looked aside toward the box then gently tapped on the lid of the box with care. He shifted his attention upon the young girl. "I don't have to go there."

Eddie nodded, then pouted, folding her arms.

"He is anti-matter, correct?" Eddie asked.

"Yes." Will nodded back.

"Then you have to go into the dark and be the light." Eddie said. "That must be painful to do that again."

Will wore a small smile.

"I am doing this on my choice with my own will." Will replied.

"Will you come back, uncle?" Eddie asked.

"I will come back." Will replied. "I will come back. I promise."

"I anticipate to see you coming back without Makin in one piece." Eddie said as he planted his hand on her shoulder.

"We came back out of the dark, Eddie, to become better versions of ourselves." Will smiled, quite fondly, on a long discarded memory then resumed on his monologue that was coming to him. "I went into the dark once, stayed there for five hundred years, then came back out of it." He squeezed her shoulder then smiled. "I can do it again but it won't be as long."

Abruptly, Eddie hugged Will so he returned the hug.

"I wish you didn't have to do it _alone_." Eddie said.

* * *

Days passed waiting for the arrival of the ship. It was mostly a entire week that was spent waiting for the young Robinson. Will felt like a little excited boy who had once anticipated for the launch of the Jupiter 2, excited, thrilled, and vibrating with optimism of a future that he were going to help exist. It was the kind of feeling that Will hadn't felt in a _very_ long time. Will made his good-byes to the men that night before they went to hit the hay into their cabins.

"Are you sure about doing this alone, Will?"

"I am very sure." Will confirmed to Maureen as he squeezed her hands. "I know that if I go down this path then I will help someone back home."

Maureen smiled, as her hands slipped out of his hands, then cupped the side of his cheeks.

"You come back in one piece," Maureen ordered. "I can take it if I lose you and John . . . But losing Robot, again, if you don't come back-"

Will smiled back, warmly, but affectionately upon his mother.

"He hasn't been around me that long, mom." Will reminded her as she withdrew her hands from the side of his face. "Robot will be okay."

"I hold you to it, Alpha Control." Maureen said then the duo laughed.

"Just you wait." Will said. "I will come back with maybe a new scar or two. Nothing more."

"Or a new burn that will take a while to go." Maureen said. "A lot longer."

"And I will wear that scar proudly," Will said.

"Do you have to go at night?" Maureen asked.

"I do." Will said. "It's the end of waiting from afar. I have the coordinates. It is time to get there and see if the ride has been transferred."

"I got the cans of deutronium." Judy approached the group then yawned as she handed the sack to Will.

"Thanks, Judy." Will thanked his older sister as he slid the strap along his shoulder. "I appreciate your help."

"You are welcome, Will." Judy said then smiled. "It's the best I can do to help Makin."

Penny was silent as she stood alongside Judy.

"It's not really the best that can be done." Will said, ruefully. "Living on Alpha Prime A would be the best but it isn't."

"I wish I could go with you and see that new planet with all the colonists using solar panels." Judy voiced her wish then squeezed her eyes shut. "But, I can't. I can't see how bad it must be on Makin's homeworld."

Judy shook her head on the brink of tears.

"I can't see how dubious they are of that planet surviving with the colonists on it." Judy's voice was about to break with heartbreak as Will reached out then planted a hand on the side of her shoulder and squeezed it.

Judy ran to her cabin as she were overwhelmed with tears rejoining Don in their shared cabin.

"I will escort you to the coordinates." Robot said then exited the ship.

"Good night, Will." Maureen said.

"Good night, mom." Will replied. "Keep a eye out for Doctor Smith. . . Just in case we are proven wrong and he comes through a time anomaly."

"We will." Maureen started to laugh but the laughter ended within a few moments. "We were proven wrong many times with how we thought things were going to go."

"So was I." Will said. "I thought Will was going to come after Doctor Smith and take him back home."

"So did I." Penny spoke up.

"I as well." Maureen's voice was softer.

"I thought we were going to see a very different version of Robot come first and try to take him." Penny said. "I thought we were going to see two Robots fight the other and Doctor Smith run away in the commotion in a fit of panic. Then the other Will would arrive, intervene in the fight, and explain that Doctor Smith was over reacting."

Will lowered his head, squeezing his eyes shut, then shook his head in certain sorrow of what could have been and should have been.

"And being wrong about myself is the worst thing I have ever been made to live with." Will lifted his head up as he sighed and his eyes opened.

"It hurts me just the way that it does hurt you to be wrong about myself." Maureen said, finally but reluctantly. "I thought I was the person who could help someone with mental illness in a proper fashion without alienating myself. I thought I was smart and cunning but in reality, the truth is-"

She closed her eyes, sighing, raw emotion briefly over coming her.

"I am a scared old woman of harm coming to her family."

Maurene went to the cabin that she shared with the professor and closed the door behind her. Penny and Will hugged one last time for a few long minutes then the hug was parted. Will went to the upper decks, turned off the freezing tube, then Makin stumbled out landing into Will's arms. He picked up the six year old into his arms then made his way out of the ship with slow consistent steps taking along the box of the older man's belongings.

Once Will was out of the ship, he turned toward the massive ship looking back at the ship that had the upper deck cloaked in the dark while the lower deck light slowly went out before his eyes. Will smiled quite a little as he looked back fondly. Then he turned away from the ship then faced the path ahead of him as Makin rested in his arms.

Will slid the box into Robot's waiting claws then made his journey for the coordinates that had been sent back for him to arrive. Will walked into the dark slowly with certain trepidation into the dark with his head held up high over the snoring of the anti-matter child in his arms leaving behind the ship that helped him grow into the person that he were today as it sheltered him.

* * *

Will set the boy on to a boulder alongside him then watched the child flop over on to his chest and snore away. Will smiled looking upon the child then sighed as he shifted his attention elsewhere toward the sandy clearing that the spacecraft was supposed to be. Robot generated a star chart then handed it to the younger man who set it on the top of his box.

"Robot, is it true that in your anti-matter world that we went on adventures?"

"Affirmative. We had a lot of them."

"You could go with me if you like." Will offered. "Just another adventure with a old friend."

"I will _never_ go back there, Will." Robot said, darkly. "I cannot go back there. Two Robots of two different worlds wouldn't do well."

Will stared at the machine in a moment of puzzlement at what the older machine had to say.

"You haven't conformed to our world." Will said.

Robot's helm twirled as his antenna sensors glowed against the darkness quite brightly.

"I haven't been able to switch back into my prime form for the last few hours as I used to." Robot replied.

"Oh. . ." Will stood up from the boulder as he laughed setting his hands on his hip "That is a lot faster than how long it took for him to become part of our world."

Robot bobbed his helm up.

"I detect that your comment means he were here a long time." Robot acknowledged.

"Thirty-four limbo years." Will said.

Robot's helm twirled with a mechanical chuckle.

"He was a very stubborn and resistant man." Robot said in bemusement.

Will nodded.

"I guess . . ." Will said. "This is good-bye for now."

"This is your coming of age story," Robot informed Will. "It isn't farewell, it is the end of a childhood and the start of a young man's own adventures."

"I am twenty-three, Robot." Will reminded. "That day came when I was twenty."

"Did you have your own adventures when you turned twenty?"

It took a solid moment for Will to think it over looking aside.

"Uh. . . nooo." Will shifted his attention upon Robot. "You're right, Robot. It is the start of my adventures."

"Good luck, Will." Robot's helm twirled.

A loud boom erupted across form them just as Will opened his mouth. Will jumped back taking his laser pistol out then looked on spotting the craft laid before him with smoke clearing away. Will ascended the stairs then pressed a button. The craft doors opened letting him into the ship.

Will looked both ways entering the craft then spotted the doorway that lead further into the craft. He turned away then returned outside retrieving the box including the star chart that Robot had generated and took the young boy from his resting perch. Makin was set down into the chair that was the closets to the doorway then he were buckled up. He lifted up spotting two golden androids that were short standing in the doorway. Will smiled then approached them.

"Here is your fuel." Will slid the strap off then handed it to the machines.

The machines clicked and whirred at each other then nodded back at Will.

"Thanks for bringing my ride." Will thanked them. "Soon as I get back, I will return it."

The androids nodded then departed the ship so Will picked up the star chart and slid it into the compartment beside him. He pressed a button that made the entrance way close once the aliens had departed the ship. He looked out the view screen observing Robot remaining outside of the ship.

He waved a hand over a crystal then watched as the lighting around him turned on. He waved his hand above the second crystal that caused the ship to arise into the air then flew on. Will smiled with great certainty of what was to happen next after his departure and how everything was going to come together with his plan.

He watched as the ship returned into the sky then set in the course for a familiar coordinates.

To Tauron.

* * *

"Maureen, we have to go." John said.

Maureen turned away from the window of the bridge, worried, but crest fallen.

"Has it already been two weeks?"

John nodded, slowly.

"It has been." John replied.

Maureen turned toward the window of the craft.

"Feels like just yesterday that Will left." Maureen's voice was soft and sincere.

John placed a hand on the side of her shoulder.

"Maureen, we will come back after a nice and long talk." John said. "With plenty of evidence that we have documented."

"Isn't it strange that the anomalies haven't been appearing as they used to?"

"Not at all when it comes to Will." John said. "We are more wrong than ever about how far we are away from Tauron, two weeks . . ."

"John, traveling in space for so long we have come up with our own time when it hasn't been passing." Maureen said. "When we were in limbo waiting for someone to continue our story; it made a impact on us and afterwards we thought it was still not passing after Doctor Smith made a visit to Professor Chronos. It left a mark on us but not as much as the grandchildren."

"Thankfully." John said.

"John, do you really want to go to Kavalar and us go to Alpha Centauri without you?" Maureen asked.

"No." John admitted with a shake of his head. "I do not."

John squeezed her hand.

"Why don't we go with you?" Maureen offered. "Drop off the grandchildren and the children on Gamma."

"You can be asleep for however long it takes for us to get back as Robot has the installed solar cells if you prefer to stay here and wait for us." He placed his hands on the side of her shoulder. "If that is what you want."

"I want to wait for you." Maureen said.

"Then go home, Maureen." John said.

John and Maureen were then clasped into a hug for a few moments then John was the first to back out. He lifted her chin up then planted a kiss on to her lips that she returned, squeezing his shoulder, quite passionately. It was the kiss that saved the family millions of times in their journey in space.

Maureen backed off from the kiss and so did John who joined the waiting lieutenant colonel. He turned to face her then smiled with assurance in his eyes as a grin replaced the smile. That optimism and hope brought a smile upon Maureen. And Maureen watched them go once they turned their back to her then departed from the Jupiter 2.

Maureen turned toward her children and Eddie.

"Do you want to go to Alpha Centauri?" Maureen asked.

"It is only a short trip." Judy said.

"And the queen will be persuaded by Don and daddy." Penny added.

"I don't see why not." Judy said. "We have got everything that we want set in motion. It is time that we had our reward."

"Let's get the excess weight off and set course for home." Maureen said.

"What is home?" Eddie asked.

"A home is a place that we stay and live." Penny said. "Where things are better, civilized, and kinder."

"It is where we find people." Maureen said.

"Gamma or Earth?" Judy asked.

"Earth." Maureen said, warmly. "We have one hour and forty-three minutes until lift off. Let's make ourselves busy!"

The family cheered from the center of the residential deck and Robot bobbed his helm up at the mention of home. It felt as though a circuit had been sharply removed from a far precious hole somewhere in his newly given frame and that water was pouring down his circuits, frames, and delicate support beams. This was quite strange to experience in a different frame. It all felt unique as his heat wave sensors reported nothing was there.

The announcement brought upon a strange response within Robot of returning to Earth and staying there with the unit that were direct counterparts to his original charges. Robot started to sniffle, sob, then blew into his generated handkerchief emulating the emotion that he were experiencing. _Home._ Robot's processors repeated. _Home._ Somewhere that he wanted to be with this loving, kind, and welcoming family.

Robot felt at the mention of home by Maureen Robinson; _where they go, this is where I belong._

* * *

On Kavalar, the royal guards of her royal majesty's palace stood in attention. The time anomaly that had shown up on occasions reappeared and the officers trembled staring at the figure dressed in a black cloak with Death illuminating off his figure stood towering over them. The hood was up, but the head was lowered, making it hard to see who was under the cloak as their long long, silver, electric spears were trembling. They slowly stepped aside for the creature to walk in.

It was dark around the creature in black, the silence that came from him was silent, as was the rage that seemed to be emitting from him. The guards tip toed into their stations at the side of the door and set up the protection field. The field was set up in front of the entrance to Madulla's castle with a electric blue buzz.

Their eyes could see the creatures that crawled out from beneath the cloak as flames became apparent in the distance behind him followed by screams with smoke drifting into the sky standing out against the night. The hood was raised up revealing a face with black skin and bright blue eyes staring at them with voiceless vengeance just as he had many times.

The newcomer vanished as the officers hid underneath the counter.

"Is the intruder gone, station 2, over?"

"I don't know, station 1, roger."

"Station 2, do we wait another hour to get out? Over."

"Station 1, we do what we have been doing since the anomaly started. Over."

"Roger, Station 2. Over."

"Station 1. Over."

"Station 2 here. Over."

"I am scared of the monster. Over."

"Station 2, so am I. Over."

"Roger."

* * *

Eglardo was fine tuning his machine as he were being sent messages from his old friends with Will's recent visit to Tauron and prior to his arrival at all. His lab was full of strange gadgets that were of failed attempts to create the perfect machine that lead a traveler traveling between words with a shield that protected them from the most averse effects of traveling.

He came up with a bracelet after a long time of working with a surge of relief at the accomplishment. Eglardo had decreased his experiments in the last six months since he saw the destruction out of his lair and disturbed the cavern around him. The shaking had stopped since then as had the numerous visitors who had plead with him to stop or to send them back home.

Eglardo hummed as he admired the creation that was a simple watch with strange gadgets with bumpy white pins that had transparent buttons and a single black screen on the top. He turned around facing the newcomer into his lab then paused as he stared at the face that he hadn't quite seen before. The former space law enforcement officer frowned.

"Have we met before?" Eglardo asked.

Will took a few steps forward.

"No. We haven't." Will said with a smile then grew somber. "I need your help. So does this world."

"What is the problem?" Eglardo asked.

"Your invention has been causing a lot of trouble everywhere."

"I see. That is troubling." Eglardo said. "I did rectify that error earlier."

"I need a device that can take me to a specific place." Will said.

"Ah. I have just the device." Eglardo held his hand up sporting a grin. "Ship to planet transport?"

"No." Then Will clarified. "Ship to space transport."

"I need a large quantity of the quantum signature to where you need to go." Eglardo said.

Will turned away then walked on toward the mouth of the cave and paused

"Makin, you can come in with the box." Will called.

"Coming, dumb dumb." A little boy's voice came then Eglardo saw a small child carrying a box into the lab. "Home home?"

"Home home." Will replied with a smile then shifted his attention on to Eglardo. "My name is Will Robinson."

"Happy to meet you," Eglardo said. "Will-WILL Robinson!" his eyes flashed open in shock. "I heard you went to Alpha Centauri after your friend went home."

"My folks went home, not me." Will said. "I am taking a kid to where he needs to be."

"Stowaway?"

Will's smile faded as he shook his head.

"No." Will replied. "Refugee."

"Shame that children have to be turned that way."

"It happens when reason, science, and logic is discarded by the adults and they do destructive things that are against the well being of everyone around them." Will said.

"Dad and Don are meeting with your employers right now."

Eglardo grew alarmed at the mention but he was harshly frightened for their well being requesting the experiment be over with.

"It is that bad to draw castaways concerns?"

"Yes."

"I believed it only impacted this planet."

"It has impacted every where."

"This must have been quite a terrible time." He hadn't expected that outsiders would figure it out so quickly then again, they had met someone who punched him in the face and knocked him down with a chair. "I am sorry."

Will nodded.

"After I come back, I need a favor."

"Just how big of a favor?"

"A really big one."

"How big of a favor?"

"I need to use that machine on the table and find someone I care about. I just need another device to take whatever I grasp on to and bring them back home."

"We can do that." Eglardo grinned widely in reply to the younger man then shifted his attention toward Makin. "Please, boy, put the box on to this machine."

"Sure, dumb dumb." Makin replied.

Eglardo shot Will a strange look.

"That is his tick." Will said. "Makin, make sure to open the box and turn it upside down. He should get a stronger signal that way."

Makin did as he was requested then the cloak fell to the ground with a clunk. The wrist watch was set into a opposing machine alongside it then Eglardo went to the nearest console and keyed into the machine with several press of the buttons and hooked the machine into the console. He flipped a switch then lifted his gaze up and watched as the machine glowed pitch black as Makin was in front of Will.

The cloak was replaced by dark gray clouds drifting out of the container. Eglardo slid the bracelet out of the container then handed it off to Will. Will took it then lifted his attention up with a nod toward Eglardo. He turned around then walk off with a icy grip on Makin's hand. Eglardo watched as the duo walked into the shadows that were normally thought to be useless but anything can be useful, even shadows. Eglardo watched as they vanished from the entrance to his lab then went over to the computer console.

"Eglardo to Queen Madulla." Eglardo said.

"This is her royal majesty's communications network, for what purpose is this discussion for?"

"It regards to the extraction of the insignificant party."

"Please hold on one moment."

The screen turned to black.

* * *

He waited as the hours peeled away, eating, resting, pacing, until a gentle beep drew him out of his patience. He got up from the chair. With a simple press of the button, the computer console surface was cleaned by the side vacuum cleaners. It was simple gusts of wind that cleared the dust off the colorful console full of solid buttons or transparent crystals that served intricate but numerous tasks out.

The screen lit up to life moments later with Madulla's light pink face appearing on the screen but it was her winged bright blue eyeliner stood out brightly and the thin long rods with fur that were part of the moth antennae from her forehead which was the first thing that Eglardo noticed rather than her face. Her tiara was the last of the features that stood out not just the tuff of fur that surrounded her neck line similar to how it would do for a moth.

"I have a prototype prepared, your majesty. It is currently in use as of this moment."

Madulla was silent only nodding back in return appearing to be happy with the turn of events.

"Now, I must ask, your majesty." Eglardo said. "Who is it that you are seeking for?"

"You may have heard of this person." Madulla said.

"I have heard a lot of people." Eglardo said. "Try me."

"His name is Doctor Zachary Smith and he has hell to pay for murdering a entire squadron of elite officers." And that was a _significant_ person, not insignificant at all.

"Terrible loss."

"The first attempt to capture him was for making him be in my serve to repay for the loss of a entire ship."

"Now the second attempt is for justice purposes."

"That it is."

"I have met his friend and I suspect that he will get your wanted man back."

"Which one of the Robinsons is using your device?"

"Will Robinson."

"He will do."

"I heard his family arrived."

"They just left five minutes ago. I have informed Professor Robinson and his friend about the change of plans that you sent back earlier."

"What did you tell them?"

"That I was trying to figure a way of returning my beloved king."

"Tragic."

"It worked like a charm. After the boy departs, alert us. There will be sent a small ship to get them in the coming days."

Madulla vanished off the screen then the former space law enforcement officer relaxed. His favorite hobby of all used to bring misfortune upon someone wasn't the most desirable not even if it came down to being able to continue it under less invasive into the multiphasic barrier by his inventions.

* * *

A few days after the initial conversation struck up with the queen and the young Will Robinson, Eglardo heard the sound of footsteps. He turned around and spotted the young man from earlier appearing to be a year or two older than how he had last seen him then Eglardo smiled.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"He has the quantum signature of this world."

His attention shifted toward the fallen cloak with a hum.

"What planet is he bound to be on?"

"Earth."

"If I had a sample of your quantum signature then perhaps-"

Will handed Eglardo a small rope.

"I got this from a prisoner of a prisonship when I was a kid." Will replied then chuckled, fondly, at the memory crossing his mind. "A fun adventure."

"And you have always had it on you?" Eglardo asked.

"Always." Will smiled.

"Why?" Eglardo was puzzled.

"I helped a reformed man and his friends become free." Will said.

Eglardo nodded then went over toward the neighboring machine. Will handed him the wrist device. He hooked the machine in then made his way toward the console and typed in a new set of commands. What was left of the cloak was a mere small jacket. Will eyed at the device.

"I don't know if there is enough for a third visit to where he belongs." Eglardo said. "A third attempt to get there would be increasingly difficult to do."

Will was silent.

"I have the way." Will replied. "That is all which matters to me."

Eglardo nodded then pressed enter and smoke illuminated from the pod.

"The next time you walk through a barrier, you should be where you want to be." Eglardo said. "Good luck."

Will smiled as he were handed the device.

"It will be the easiest thing that I have done in a long time." Will said. "Thank you and good-bye."

Will shook Eglardo's hand then walked out of the lab quietly with a slow walk.

Eglardo turned toward the main computer.


	39. Chapter 39

Smith slid his hand off his shoulder looking out the barred window watching the sun in the distance recalling the time that he had gone fishing with the major then he looked toward the mirror that he had been allowed to have in the well furnished cold room that was designed to the liking of torturing people in solitary confinement. And it was posing the same hurt as it was intended to do leaving him feeling in a highly uncomfortable situation.

He stared at himself that was being reflected on the other side of the mirror. He was happy yet sad looking at himself that turned into admiring as he rubbed the side of his cheek. He was forty-three years old in human years. He had bags under each of his eyes and facial features that belonged to a middle aged aging man.

His human age had finally came around him months after leaving the Robinsons. It had been months, several Earth months, since he had left _them_. He had spent longer than a year in the underground tunnel. It had been years on Beta Five. It had been a clear fifteen years if not more from his lack of using it as often as he should have. Twenty? Thirty? Forty? Fifty? Easily could have been.

Smith had cared for himself quite well behind bars during the lengthy loneliness keeping his hair short instead of allowing to grow long as it had allowed to get on Destructon including keeping his goatee as a goatee. All in all; Being allowed to age. By the time that he was going to be in stasis, Smith reckoned, he was going to be close enough to his counterpart's age before being trapped into his destiny.

Smith could only imagine the Major's reaction of this universe if he had been allowed to be in the same room and see how he had aged since their last encounter. Fury at being allowed to age finely into the ensuing years that passed. And the major would only look uglier as hate consumed him. Compared to the major that he had grown familiar to, even had the opportunity at seeing him being old in this universe, he had aged finely into someone uncontrolled by hate. A different person, approachable, keeping himself in check.

He took off his prison blue garments then stretched his four arms out and cracked his four knuckles. _Pop_. Went the first row. _Pop_. Went the second row. He tore off the sleeves to his uniform then put it back on and allowed his lower two arms to remain down as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He let out a sigh looking down toward his hands admiring how well they were aging with him including the additional ones.

"Doctor Smith, are you awake?"

Smith raised his head up.

"Very awake," Smith's hopes raised. "Visitor?"

"Federal government." came the reply.

"Let them in." Smith said. "Please, dear sir."

The door slid open and in came the lackey. The lackey stared at his four arms with his eyes ogling at the man then lifted his attention up to Smith. His third eye blinked then watched the lackey step back. The two wrist bands around his wrists expanded then became mitts around his hands and made it hard to move.

"I won't hurt you." Smith shook his hand and secondary hand then lowered them down into his lap. "You can relax."

The lackey cleared his throat, visibly still torn, still frightened, struggling to remain composed.

"We can't grant your request to be unreformatted." came from the employee of the federal government.

"Why in the heavens not?" Smith questioned standing up to his feet standing toe to toe with the officer. "The scientists would have a field day playing bat with my messy DNA."

The employee tip toed away to the door with the doctor's eyes on him.

"You _are_ a convicted criminal, Doctor Smith." The employee reminded.

Smith lowered his head then sighed.

"Surely, being a criminal means you are allowed to suffer." Smith said, lifting his head, clasping lower set of hands. "I would be fragile. Very fragile. And it would make my experience here even more grueling."

The employee studied him before answering.

"No." the employee said, apologetically, ruefully. "That is their final answer."

"And that isn't your answer." Smith said.

"I want to say yes." The employee said. "I want to be kind."

Smith approached the man then paused.

"Kindness starts with small acts," Smith said. "Small gestures. That is what they taught me. Help someone. Anyone."

"Have you?" the employee asked.

"I have." Smith said. "You might regret it later."

"Might?" The employee asked. "Might is very important."

"But, you have to forgive them if you ever want to feel good and be good." Smith said. He looked aside, _just like I have forgiven them_. Then his blue eyes shifted toward the employee with a aged smile then added, "You can be kind."

The employee nodded, turned around, then knocked. The employee exited once the door to his cell opened then walked off. The door to the dark gray cell clocked with a loud thud as he lowered his head feeling upset. It made him, in the mist of a distressing situation, wonder if they could even remove the modifications and leave him back the way that he was with the mutation still there.

He closed his eyes then sighed and lowered his head down toward his lap seating down on the slab of cold metal bed as the mitts sunk back down. The mutation may have changed his DNA. It may have made it even more difficult to be unreformatted. They hadn't bothered to run tests on him. They were treating him like a human. There was no special treatment given asides to the scheduling. It was the most heartbreaking of all; they refused to let him be truly human even while treating him as one.

Unlike the Robinsons who let him appear human.

_I miss you, my dears._

He let go of a single tear.

* * *

The handler came to the door of the cell watching the older man reading a novel. He knocked then Smith raised his attention up and gave the come in gesture. His eyes flickered in recognition then he smiled back at the older man. He was a business man dressed in deep brown suit complete with a black turtleneck shirt contrasting against the general theme of the outfit.

"Hello, Doctor Smith." Smith put aside the novel.

"Hello, dear." the business man greeted. "Your hands look exceptional."

"Tended to." Smith said.

"I trust that your finances are everything that you ever so wanted."

"No." Smith shook his head with a sour tone. "They are not," Smith stood up to his feet then approached the older man. "I trust that your mission is going the way you want it."

"You were supposed to feed us intel of the Jupiter program and sabotage it,"

"I did." Smith replied.

The businessman slid forward a vial on the table then Smith's bright blue eyes looked down toward the object and back.

"Here is our offer. You can have a dignified death by your hand. Not one that the united global space force will force upon you."

Smith smiled then picked it up and splashed it into the business man's face then stepped back once putting the vial into the man's hand.

"I forgive you for what you did," Smith said. "But, you should have done a better job cleaning up your mess."

The business man cleaned his face with a handkerchief then looked upon the taller man.

"That says differently from you." the business man noted.

"Because you are a ninny." Smith sat down onto a slab of metal and folded his four arms and folded his legs. "Go." he waved his hand. "Never show your face to me, again."

The business man tucked his handkerchief back into his pocket.

"I will see to it."

The business man departed leaving Smith in the cold and empty lone room then resumed where he left off once the mitts went away.

* * *

Will crashed to his feet on the ground seemingly out of his breath, his throat threatening to close on him, struggling to breathe. Will began to panic as he searched for a way to save himself. He saw a shop door ahead of him as fear slipped through his veins then got up to his feet with a definite struggle. He began to began get dizzy as his vision started to darken going on toward the exit. Will collapsed landing to his side feeling woozy. He heard a distant clash of thunder. He smacked his hand against the window of the shop as he started to sink in the heavily unable to be breathed in smog.

A door open in the background then he were dragged from where he had fallen and dropped as though he were a sack of potatoes. His vision was difficult to become adjusted to at first in the dark. He heard a sword be sharpened with the screech of metal. Will didn't know where he was but he wore a oxygen mask. Someone had decided to save his life and that was a debt of gratitude that he couldn't repay. He was slouched on a couch across from the rescuer when he leaned forward.

"Easy there." A hand gripped his shoulder with a familiar voice. "You nearly died out there without a oxygen mask."

Will turned toward the source of the voice then paused.

"Hi."

"Hi." The man withdrew his hand. "I am Williams. This is my welding shop. Not the best place to recover from a attempted suicide but it is the best place to be."

"I-" Will started to say but laughed. "I didn't know the smog here was that bad."

"Is it any better around this planet?" Williams asked, bitterly.

"There are some places that are good." Will replied. "I have to go."

"Just sit down and rest, please. Enjoy the fresh air!" Williams walked around the room with a grin. "The clean air! I got this air from my hydroponics out back."

True, the air was exceptional in the room. Just as if he were outside. Will noticed the room was full of plants seen high and low even a blue screen on the cieling that read: 'MARS TICKET PURCHASED, WILL BE LEAVING SOON" The placement of the plants gave Will a bad feeling that something had changed. Will grimaced as he tried to imagine Smith's alarming and doomsday ranting about the Earth in the process of Death. People already knew the fate of their planet and were getting their affairs in order.

"Do people still need welders in this age?" Will asked.

"Plenty of people." the man chuckled. "Keeps me employed. Where do you intend to go?"

"Doctor Smith's trial."

"Already had that." The man replied as he set down a sword with care on to the nearest counter. "He is getting his sentencing today."

"The only sentencing that he is getting is about leaving without a good-bye."

"Do you know him?"

"Yes." Will smiled with a curt nod.

"You must be that boy mentioned in that great epic published by his partner."

"Yeah, I am that boy."

"Not a boy anymore." The man acknowledged.

"Not anymore." Then Will laughed. "Obviously. I have to bring him back. . . Has it been storming in here?"

"Houston has had more storms than it normally has." The man shifted his gaze on to Will. "I'll help you get to him. But only because he has suffered enough already."

Will smiled, broadly.

"What do you have in mind?" Will asked.

"I have a old car." the man said. "It's slow. May not make it in time."

"I'll find a way to get to him." Will said.

"This way." the man said.

Will followed the man out of the welding lobby.

* * *

"Your client's sentencing is scheduled for today."

Elice bolted out of bed with that comment being dropped and her small foldable phone was left on the counter beside her. She rushed into the sonic shower, grabbed her blue suit, white blouse, and knee high boots. She put in a small packet into the microwave then pressed on heat while wandering away back into the living room.

The microwave was glowing a light blue from the inside as the packet was rotating in circles. Within a few minutes the screen beside it read 'end' and the lights turned off. Elice opened the door then took out the food and made her way out of the apartment.

"The smog has gotten heavy today, recommendation is to have a oxygen mask, smell the roses, breathe in the fresh air, and look at the blue sky." reported the news.

The irony in that was the skies were dark and heavy with smog. The irony was hard to lose. Yet, it was not difficult to lose willing to believe what they were hearing instead of what their eyes were seeing. Words that haunted her as she thought back to the historical videos of Earth's darkest days where there was a side by side screen displaying what was happening and what the 'Resident' (as historians and people lived through it) was saying.

People used to be able to breathe without the equipment but had grown increasingly difficult for those redesigned to go without one. Elice ate breakfast taking along a cup of freshly generated milk that was placed into a cup holder. Loud music blasted over the speakers as she was leaned back into the chair watching the city limits pass by.

Her brown eyes wandered from side to side observing passing cars in different routes. There was a time that New York City had been small and bordering on the upper level of the ground. Not massive as it had became growing outwards taking on pieces of land that had become abandoned by the receding layer of water. The sea bed had been taken over by man made buildings.

Birds used to fly in the air and crash against the windshield of the air-car. But now, they don't fly in the smog filled sky. She placed her empty plate into the remattering machine that made it vanish then reappear lacking any form of any filth. She put on her oxygen mask then made her way into the aircar that waited for her outside. and got inside. The car door automatically closed behind her then she buckled up, put the oxygen mask aside, watching as she was ubered to the courthouse. Elice folded her arms looking on waiting as the flying car continued its flight toward the courthouse.

It was a dreary matter being in the court house for the same case under a awful circumstance. She had lost the most easiest case that can be prosecuted but not defended quite well. It was pitiful that a trusted war veteran who had served for nearly a hundred years was responsible for sabotaging a mission. The air-car flew into the multi storey parking lot then parked her car into the lot. Her car door slid open from beside her while the seat belt detached from the buckle.

She took out her suitcase then walked out of the car. The car door closed from behind Elice. Elice made it to the elevator then waited patiently with her hands clasped in her lap waiting for someone. She was joined by a growing group of officers. She looked around finding it odd searching for answers for the large presence of police officers.

"Officer, what is going on?"

"There is rumors that Global Sedition is going to try to stop this sentencing," the tall officer said. "And handle justice their own way."

"First, they try to sabotage our way of leaving this planet. Second, leave their sabetour for dead. Third, their saboteur returns to Earth in some unknown set of circumstances. _Then_ they want to deal with their mess?"

"It's messy as it comes. Colonel Smith is the first person to have _not_ died from their sabotage."

"He has been in prison for four years and they haven't gotten him there. . ."

"Maybe they don't want to get their hands dirty." Elice suggested. "Makes them a lot more guilty to have done that."

"I hate to be that poor man. All that isolation." one of the officers shook their head. "Must be more mad than he was after returning."

"I heard he was pretty messed up when he arrived." Elice said. "Ranted about having been half spider as he was escorted out of the general's office and nothing was wrong with him-" then she paused with a wince. " _Then_." Everyone grimaced the memory of the news showing pictures of his mutated head and hands. "Makes sense."

"You don't say."

"Uh huh." Elice said. "Came straight from the general's secretary."

"Credible."

"What my client said was induced by long term exposure to space," Elice said. "Anything that he has to say should be ignored."

"But the spider bit." replied the skeptical officer looking down toward her, incredulously.

"I thought his story was part of the act." Elice admitted.

"He never took the stand for that reason," one of the officers glared down upon her. "I would like to hear his reasoning behind grouping himself with a terrorist organization."

"He had his reasons." Elice said.

* * *

Williams kicked his car in a attempt to start it up. He looked toward the younger man, sheepishly.

"Like I said, she is slow." Williams said. "We have had her since the air-cars came out. My wife works as a principal at the George Floyd Middle School."

"George Floyd? Is he some scientist? General?"

"No, he was a flawed man that was murdered by a police officer who had his knee on his neck for eight minutes. He was unarmed. He plead for his life. He was taken in for being suspected of giving fake money. He didn't have a damn thing on him."

He fell quiet.

"His murderer couldn't hide behind the shield anymore once it came out that they disliked each other and knew one another. He is the reason why chokeholds are hardly used anymore. People like him and Breonna make sure that for people who are white, black, or any other color are treated with respect, dignity, and no violence at all. Breonna was a EMT who died in her sleep when officers stormed in without knocking or identification. Her death caused the no-knock arrest warrant to be banned across the nation."

Will stared at him.

"Doctor Smith never told us why the world went into civil war."

"It was a racial war. A race war, you can say. But, I fought on the good side. I fought for people who didn't look like me and got nothing in return but knowing that things were better than they were. It wasn't just a race war, it was a war about everything, women rights, LGBT rights, climate change, making captialisim care about its consumers and the environment."

Will tugged down a rope and a series of posters, shields, articles of clothing, and medical gear became revealed including damaged umbrellas. Williams looked on in fondness toward the articles of protests. Will shifted toward the man who had his father's voice, his face, his demeanor, but only twenty years older.

"Standing in protest, bringing shields, having phones in camera mode, visors, and providing aid to the wounded-medical supplies, food, water, shade but not bringing guns. Weapons are for cowards clinging to a ideal world in which they are powerful and superior against peaceful protests to make them become silent, compliant, and able to push around".

Will could see now even clearly the world that Smith spent the war in.

"Having a gun is for cowards. It's for whimps who are not part of the military. Having a gun is a privilege not a right in civilization. It's not even a necessity in civilization. For the final frontier, I would be for it."

Will laughed.

"Dad looks just like you."

Williams shifted toward Will raising his brow.

"Really?"

"Really. You might get along with those similar beliefs." Will approached the man. "Put your hand on this device, please."

"Sure." Williams put his hand on Will's gadget.

The machine shifted and changed in a matter of seconds.

"Just need to check if this has a time limit how long I am here." Will tapped on a bubble then watched as a transparent screen appeared. "Fourteen minutes." Will turned his attention upon Williams. "How far is the court?"

"Ten minutes, tops." Williams replied. "What is this about?"

"The man that helped me here works for someone who is highly interested in getting Doctor Smith for their own means." Will explained. "Queen Madulla, I hope that she was mentioned in that."

"She was to a degree." Williams said. "If your friend works for her, you're going to make a second trip back."

"Third." Will corrected. "This is my third trip. Speaking of that, I need something of this timeline to use as a focus point."

Williams scanned the equipment around them then snapped his fingers.

"Ah ha!" Williams picked up a purple face mask and turned toward him. "Take this. It will help you."

Will slipped the mask into his pocket.

"I will do what I can."

"You can't trust monarchy assistants. A given."

"Nice sword and sash-"

"Family heirloom."

"Is that a hat?"

"Yes."

"And a cloak-"

"Yes."

"They look really old."

"They are old. Mean something; one used to be worn by a hero turned deity for a time. My grandfather told me that they represented the people, the will of the people, their heart and soul, of justice."

"El Zorro?"

"Who?"

"Never-mind."

"Ten minutes!" Williams smacked the roof of the car. "Turn on, you worthless piece of shit!"

The car beamed to life as Will looked on startled by the unexpected shouting. The man opened the car door then beckoned him on.

"Always works like a charm!" Williams said with a grin and a thumbs up.

Will went to the neighboring side of the vehicle then opened the passenger seat and hopped right in then buckled himself up. Will looked up spotting a photograph and froze as he stared at the photograph of his father and mother. They were sitting on a roller coaster side by side with their arms in the air laughing in the mist of screaming.

"That's my wife." Williams said.

"She looks. . ." Will left that unfinished.

"Let me guess," Williams said. "she is your mother."

"Yes, sir." Will said.

"We can't have children. Decided against having them as the weather and the climate turned to shit. I can't raise a child in that environment but she could do with overseeing their education."

Will smiled.

"I have a feeling that you would have made a great father." Will said.

Williams turned his attention upon Will then grinned broadly.

"Thank you." Williams said.

The barrier door opened then the car exited into the secondary entrance of the building.

"Let's get going." Will said.

Once the doors were closed behind them, the doors opened in front of them and the car flew out.

* * *

The ride to the court house was silent in the air car.

His shoulders were sulking as he stared on toward the gray wall.

He replayed memories of a better time that made him have a small smile.

The moments were bread crumbs that contrasted against the darkness and comforted him in his pain. And his heart ached more than it had since leaving them. And his heart loved them even more. More than how he had started to leave them without their knowledge. The pain was still as fresh but had dulled to a point to a ache that was louder than his chronic pain.

The thought that comforted him was that Robinsons may have found a way to remake their friend and a entirely new artificial intelligence to take his place as their environmental protector and a new member of the family. And they were still on their way to Alpha Centauri. He could imagine each of their reactions at seeing the planet. Tears at what it had taken to get there after the announcement had been made.

A loud explosion stirred him out of his train of thoughts, abruptly. He was thrust aside smacking the side of his head against the door with a yelp and he grasped on to his shackles with a strain anticipating the next blast. He slide aside as the craft tipped aside with a hard thrust and his back was pinned to the he lowered his shields.

 _Global Sedition! Why the hell are they here?_ Thought the driver with panic in her thoughts and took a swerve.

 _Why the hell are they interested in him?_ Thought the passenger beside her. _Car bombs? Just for ONE MAN?_

And there was another, then another, and another. It was growing to become a annoyance regarding his former employers trying to be rid of him. His dislike for Global Sedition only grew in the long and bumpy ride as he clung to the shackles preventing himself from swinging any further. It reminded him as if he were aboard the roller coaster once more back in the classic world. The innocent world. The positive matter world.

His mind reeled back to painting with the children at the magnotron. Their laughter echoed in his mind as he closed his eyes re-absorbing the moment looking back at that moment of happiness made the clenching ride in the torture chamber even the more bearable. It made the right more pleseant up until the transport arrived to the multi parking complex. He smiled facing the wall feeling immersed in the happy memories. The door to the truck opened across from him then his smile faded.

Just as everyone had in this situation, when he turned his attention off from the wall, there was a visible display of a finely aged forty-three year old (and well worn) contempt on his face. He was unshackled from the chair by the officers then towed out of the truck. The federal marshals escorted Smith and his attorney toward the elevator. On the side of his head was a forming large bump.

"Did you get that from prison?" Elice asked.

Smith scowled looking down upon her.

"No. Explosion, my dear." Smith said, with a small softened smile, reassuringly, shaking his cuffed hand slightly with difficulty. "They are so invested in making sure I don't get my sentence that it is almost concerning."

"The evidence has been enough to take down several key players." Elice said. "In their position; it is not surprising."

"They are on the defensive," Smith said. "Who knows? They may try to explode the court room."

Elice frowned then shook her head.

"This is a very old courtroom that is off the books," Elice said. "One of the most historically preserved ones left on Earth."

"Difficult to find, I presume," Smith said. "No one has stepped foot in it for decades."

"Last time someone stepped foot was in the early 2000's," Elice said. "Doctor Smith, are you ready for your fate?"

"Gentlemen are always prepared for their final fate, madame." Smith turned his attention off Elice. "It is what defines us before death with dignity."

"It is okay to be afraid," Elice said.

"I am anxious," Smith said. "Not afraid."

"There still has been no word from the Robinsons," Elice said. "Or the back up family."

"Back up family?" Smith looked down toward the shorter woman in alarm feeling his heart sink. "What back up family?"

"They exited the solar system without any problem according to the last space probes message. They are well on their way to Alpha Prime A," Elice said. "They sent out the Jupiter 3 immediately after the Jupiter 2's last message. It was very top secret that they had a back up medical professional over seeing the training and health. They didn't completely trust their own personnel."

Smith grimaced taking his attention off Elice.

"Those poor tormented souls." Smith said. "They are doomed, _doomed_."

* * *

The door to the courtroom slid open with a loud creak then the convicted criminal was escorted out of the elevator in the lead while flanked by two federal marshalls that blocked off the reporters. The flashes of light momentarily blinded his peripheral vision so he shielded his eyes, hunching over, making himself look smaller to them and made it hard to get a good look of his face.

There was a out stretched pathway made by a long border on each side of the hall that was large enough to hold hundreds of people with officers in the way. They took a turn into a massive doorway then everyone poured into the room with low rumbles and orderly being seated.

Everyone sat down within minutes waiting for the judge to return. It consisted only of Alpha Control personnel and reporters. General Goddard was part of them with himself at the back glaring a black hole into Smith's back. Smith was calm, his hands tightly clasped together in his lap, lacking any form of regret. He had no regrets.

Elice wanted to pity him.

There was no pity to give to a traitor. He could not be pitied upon.

She could hand out pity to various kinds of killers but he topped the cake.

She turned her attention off focusing on the empty seat with her hands on the table playing with her thumbs.

* * *

The door from the back opened and everyone in the room stood up at the order of 'all rise' if only for a moment before allowed to sit down. The judge lowered her glasses staring down the man then took them off with a sigh.

"I have decided your sentence, Doctor Smith," The judge began. "I speak for everyone. Maybe, you should have stayed lost because the only fate that awaits you here is cruel. Too cruel but it is justified given what you tried to do. Your property belongs to the government, your rank is hereby discharged, and the only fair consequence that you will suffer is the death penalty."

The glare was fierce from the judge.

"This Court is adjourned."

Smith sat down into the chair, relieved. But scared.

His hand were trembling so he relegated them into his lap as the civilians were escorted out of the room. He squeezed his hands, comforting himself, on one aspect: he was going to be fast asleep.

He was going to be blissfully asleep while time went on and his pod was restricted to planet Earth.

Smith grimaced at the thought of being taken out and be put into stasis aboard a prison ship for all eternity.

And his counterpart wouldn't go through ultimate Hell as he did. He was going to be rescued, given a glass upon return to Earth, drink it, then slowly fall asleep and never wake up. It was the one comforting pieces of his ultimate fate. A fate that his friends and family were not going to attend but in a little way, they _had_. He looked aside spotting the officers coming by his chair then got up to his feet and was guided toward the side door with his head held high.

"Doctor Smith!"

Smith turned in the source of the unexpected voice then spotted the young red head headed his way then turned away.

 _Ah, it's just a adult version of Will_ - _-_

His head bobbed up then he forced his head to turn turn toward Will with his eyes flashed open as the court room door was opened across from him while being guided to it.

"William?" Smith said.

The court officers stopped the young from going after Smith with some resistance from the teenager.

"Let me through!" Will demanded.

Horror mixed with realization decorated his face as he paled.

"No, no, it can't be! It mustn't be!" The older man cried. "William!"

"Doctor Smith, wait!"

**"WILLIAM!"**

"Wait!" Will cried as he watched the older man struggle to resist against the officers stopping him from chasing after Smith. "Don't go!" Will watched as Smith was forced out the door and reached a hand out. "Come back!"

And the door was slammed behind him as Will overheard a distant but muffled distraught shriek. The machine stirred to life stinging Will's wrist with a loud whir. Every being of Will's body felt as if it were being yanked back as his heels dug into the floorboard until he couldn't resist further.

It was as if his atoms, every fiber of his being, his figure had been yanked back with a iron hand back to where he came from. Will stood in the middle of a animal shelter then trembled with rage. Quietly, Will navigated his way out of the shelter carrying the gadget that had fallen off his wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been written since 2019. It was supposed to be part of the clock toils to 12 arch in a cruel kind of agony but then plot got out of hand so I posted this earlier. Once I got caught up with how Will got to where he arrived; I went in and edited it.
> 
> As a result, there are only a couple new scenes with the other scenes intact.
> 
> Credit to DrZacharySmith for helping me build up to why Will went after him.


	40. Chapter 40

"I like you to take me to the general-"

Smith was shoved into the cold slick room landing on to his hands and knees. He used the wall as his support getting up to his feet.

"That is a heinous crime treating a man that way!" Smith approached the officers.

"Get changed."

Smith were handed the smooth dark gray uniform then looked down upon it.

"But, my dear sir-"

"Just get changed, Smith." Was the definitive order. "You're leaving in one hour."

Smith took a step forward and the door closed. Smith sulked as he looked down upon the uniform full of dread of a unknown future. He raised his head up looking up toward the ceiling quite irked of going back up there. He lowered his head looking back at the uniform mulling it over.

_William!_ His shoulders raised with the recollection of the young man as his eyes flashed open. _He's coming for me._ Smith looked upon his dark business suit then toward the cryostasis suit that he wore. Something is wrong. _Madulla?_ His features fell upon the distressing thought. _Is he coming back because the family is in danger from my unresolved business?  
_

His heart sank at the thought as he grimaced looking upon the outfit in his hand complete with electronic gear on the chest. It was a very important part of the suit, but he weren't sure what it was, it had been so long ago that he were aware of the basic function of the uniform. Smith put the uniform aside then took off jacket then folded it, he did the same for the shirt, the trousers, trading the white undershirt for the dark gray uniform. He lifted his head up once changed into the dark gray uniform. The uniform was slowly changing in theme from dark gray to bright light gray with faint black lines as he trembled coming to a pause in front of the doorway to the facility.

The door opened.

"I insist that you take me to Mission Control-"

Smith were yanked forward by the arms without much of a word.

"It's very important!"

Smith were only returned with grunts of disapproval.

"Let me explain! Please! I have a friend from somewhere who needs me! UNHAND ME, YOU NINNIES!"

Smith resisted every step of the way as he were guided through the corridor by the two buff officers keeping him up on his two feet. Smith was taken through the corridors of Mission Control watching the familiar archways, the walls, and the windows pass by him as he struggled to force himself out of their grip.

He looked on observing the familiar face that looked back at him in shame with certain judgement and resentment. Resentment that he could face with the younger counterpart, the genuine article, and the thought of facing anger frightened him. They used to be once on the same side, the man with the major's face, working on the side of the resistance.

"Major, cancel this! Please! Anti-Matter Will and Pro-Matter Will physically interacting will destroy your precious world! My dear, please, spare yourself!"

The general watched Smith be guided to the launch section of Mission Control with a shake of his head.

"How the mighty have fallen." He commented then walked away as Smith's pleas became distant.

* * *

"And that's what happened."

"You mean, they are having bad electric storms that are worse than the ones we had seen?" Was all Penny got out of it.

"A lot worse." Will confirmed. "You should have seen the landscape and the roads." he shook his hands. "I never seen storms like that destroy the climate that viciously. It was like watching a continent being sliced selectively, those moats that hadn't been filled with water, it was so out of place."

"And they haven't gone to investigate why it was happening?" Don asked. "That's hard to believe."

"Williams said they are blaming it on the drones." Will said, simply.

"Cover up. Denial. Distortion." John listed.

"Drones?" Maureen said.

"He said they were flying balls with helicopter blades in a container." Will said. "They are used to search for people who are missing or were reported kidnapped. They never stop searching."

"If they are denying the facts at hand; the storm they may be having in space could be a hell lot worse than the weather on Earth." John said. "We have to get there and prevent a catastrophic disaster. Is everyone in agreement? Say aye."

"Aye." The Robinsons chimed.

"However, Don, that general. . ." John grimaced. "you have to stay inside of the ship. If we need to go planet surface at all."

"That sucks." Don complained as he sulked. "Not." He looked toward the younger man. "I wouldn't want to be on a smog filled Earth _any_ day."

"Will, can you adjust your machine to bring us all to the world?" John asked.

"It is possible." Will said. "However, when we get there it will be a race against time." He stood up to his feet. "Or for time depending when we arrive."

"Whatever you need to do, do it." John said.

Will nodded.

"I got just the idea for it." Will said.

The young man fidgeted with his gadget until he removed a small rounded rock from the wrist machine. He removed the mask from his pocket then slipped it underneath the rock. A holographic screen appeared above the item with the letters outlined in white color as Will started to smirk.

"Just needs to go to the bridge." Will grinned as the family stared above the device that was glowingly softly against the warm glow of the Jupiter 2. "It can be done immediately if we glue it to the dashboard."

"Joshua, Eddie." Don said. "You don't have to go with us if you want."

"We're going to a alternate continuity," Joshua said. "Do you think we're nuts?"

"We have been through wormholes that cut down our travel time, been through spaceships, starships, but never have we had the opportunity to travel between worlds the way that Uncle Will has!" Eddie said.

"It may be a long time before we see Earth." John warned.

"We accept that." Eddie said.

"It's also pretty boring." Joshua said.

The Robinsons nodded then got up from their seats and retrieved their space uniforms. Will went to the cargo part of the ship then returned with a bottle of glue, changed into his space uniform - gloves and boots included-, then went up to the upper deck of the ship. Will squirted a large amount of glue then set the small item that reverted to its rock form on to the console. He tucked the mask around the small pebble then the holographic screen appeared.

He slid down on the screen as Judy looked out the window of the Jupiter 2 observing the craft then shifted toward Penny.

"Penny, you haven't changed?" Judy said, startled.

"I decided that I am staying on Earth." Penny said.

"Are you sure about that?" Judy asked.

"Positive. I want to be home." Penny said, sincerely. "I want to stay at one place." She pointed out the window that revealed Alpha Control then she frowned. "I want to enjoy civilization, again. Besides, we have only been here for six months."

"Too little for you." Judy put her hands on Penny's shoulder. "Make sure that you are okay, okay?"

"I will be."

"Does mother know?"

"Yes, she does."

"I will miss you."

"So will I."

"See you later?"

"See you, later."

Penny went down to the lower decks of the ship then out with Debbie in hand. Maureen watched her daughter leave the ship joining a young man with light brown hair who took her hand and they hugged. She smiled, with pride in her veins, at the young daughter that she had originally thought wasn't fitting in with a entire decade spent in space. Her concerns and worries were eased. Penny was adapting quite fine.

Maureen looked up toward John who joined her side then they smiled, John squeezing her shoulder, as they both wore pride. They went inside of the Jupiter 2 as Penny and her significant interest looked back then went inside Alpha Control. They watched as the landing legs returned underneath the massive expanded ship then soared into the sky clearing the clouds away.

"Hold on, Doctor Smith." Penny voiced to the sky. "It's all going to be okay."

"It'll be okay for us, will it?" The young man beside Penny asked.

"It will be," Penny turned her attention upon him with a smile. "I get the distinct feeling that we're going to have a lot of adventures together."

"Lots of them?"

Penny nodded, smiling from ear to ear, happily.

"Lots of them, even grander, silly, and fun than before."

They laughed as they turned away from the launch pad heading away as the Jupiter 2 flew through the atmosphere of Earth and vanished once it reached space.

* * *

Smith squirmed in the grips of the two officers even as he were taken up into the elevator. The elevator doors opened as the man whimpered. He froze in horror spotting the craft that he had seen from the sky orbiting Takuchi Seven only years ago as his face paled. It was a long gray craft that had a rounded bubble center, a long passageway leading into a stubby section with grids and the back end of the craft reminded Smith of a birdie ping pong ball's back end that had the sides made of individual long rods. Smith dug his feet in as he screamed.

"NooOOooooooooo! Don't take me back there! Please! Please! No! No!"

Unpleasant memories resurfaced regarding the craft's presence.

"Take me back! Take me back! Please! I am pleading with you! Don't take me back in there!"

The animals that they let loose, the space guards that echoed through the ship, Will and Penny thrown into a cage and being unable to do a shred of a thing about it being threatened by the guards while Robot were being under the effects of a reprogramming from a lone guard. The flashes of memories crossed his mind as he became stiff where he stood as though frozen by supernatural means as he held his breath and the hair all over his skin raised. It's only being shoved forward closer to the ship that he snaps out of the memories.

"Please!"

Smith recalled being chased like a animal through the ship by the guards back to the space pod then captured and thrown into a cage with a space tiger where it viciously attacked him until it grew bored remained in the other side of the room where it hissed at him. It had been a miracle that they got out of the bleakest moments with a single crash. The door to the rescue ship opened then he saw another set of stairs that lead to the real ship that bore remarkable resemblance to the Proteus-

It was a exact copy except for the lack of the egg sacks as he stopped resisting and his legs went slack out of shock then were dragged into the ship. _History is going to repeat itself. History is going to repeat itself, nothing can stop it, it's inevitable, my alternate counterpart is GOING TO HAPPEN._ Smith proceeded to flail in the grip of the officers as they entered the ship. He was thrown to the floor as another officer came to a cryostasis tube from alongside the wall. Smith became desperate as he was met by the door that closed on him.

He attempted to bed his fingers into the wall to no avail.

But unlike the world that he had spent a lot of quality time in, they weren't made of styroform, wood, or paper.

"No." Came quietly.

He turned around.

"Officers, can we arrange a deal?" Smith offered. "I have a very dear friend of mine. . ."

Outside, there was a loud roar of thunder striking around mission control so he yelped jumping aside.

"You had a deal. No sabotage, your freedom." replied one of the officers that grabbed him by the arm. "You blew it. Time to face the consequences."

Smith gasped as he were yanked forward by the two officers.

"Wait, please! One moment!" Smith protested as he was shoved into a cryostasis tube by a pair of gruff hands. "One moment!"

Binds were wrapped around his hands and legs making it hard to get off.

"There is someone who doesn't belong among in this universe on Earth!"

he struggled to free himself then watched as the pod door closed and his eyes widened in horror.

"Someone, LISSSSTTTTTEEEENN TO ME."

His eyes were masked by a strange visor object and his frantic demeanor faded as he fell asleep.

* * *

"We made it!" John declared.

"John, look!" Don said.

"That's the Derelict!" John's eyes flashed open. "It can't have come from Earth."

"What kind of madness is this?" Don asked.

"Looks kind of like a protective shell." John noted.

"It's falling apart!" Don said.

"The shell is!" John said as the parts were ejected from the craft. "Not the ship."

"What kind of monstrosity is that?" Don asked.

The family were staring on from the lower decks of the ship staring out facing the craft that was haunting in every way, serene, and a disaster of massive proportions that was quite sinister. Eddie and Joshua huddled around Judy as Robot looked on toward the craft that he had once been on. Robot twirled then wheeled out of the room heading for the upper deck of the ship to join the men.

"A Anti-Matter kind of monstrosity." John said, quietly.

The door to the upper deck opened.

"Robot, welcome aboard." Don turned toward the machine with a small smile. "Cramped down there?"

"Negative." Robot replied. "It was adequate."

"Robot, is that a rescue ship?" John asked.

"It is." Robot said.

"Hey, that's odd."

"What is it, Don?"

"They're turning from where they should be going." Don observed, frowning, quite disturbed by what he were witnessing. He shifted his attention upon the mayor. "Looks like they have a course heading for the other part of the planet."

"Robot, is that true?" John asked.

"My sensors indicate that it has a heading course to the sun." Robot replied.

" **WHAT**?" John exclaimed.

"There is a Artificial Intelligence that is highly active inside of the ship." Robot reported.

" _What_?" Now, it was Don's turn to shout.

"They must have a reason for this!" John said.

"That could explain this unfathomable act." Don tried to rationalize the event. "Smith did say they were going to crash into the sun when the leveler was pulled."

"So they are going to do the same thing to catch up with the Jupiter 2, Robot?" John asked.

"Affirmative." Robot replied.

"To get lost just to find them." John chuckled. "That is innovative. Don, start the tractor beam."

"Starting the tractor beam. Powering up." Don announced. "We should be powered up in five minutes."

"We're going to get lost with them and find our way back after we go through another weak multiphasic barrier." John said. "After that, we will find our way back a lot easier depending if we have been here. Then, we drop Smith off to Earth, return to Alpha Centauri for a much needed family relaxation and permanent residence."

"I can't wait to see if there are statues of us decorating the cities." Don said.

"There is no other way that we will be remembered than that." John said. "Together."

"Family." Don nodded with a small smile as the mayor looked out toward the sky.

"Warning, warning!" Robot announced, abruptly. "We are not alone! Warning!"

"John, permission to fire?" Don asked.

"They haven't attacked us yet or expressed interest any harm to the ship." John said, turning his attention upon the major then shook his head. "They may be determined on performing the same action. . ." he returned his gaze upon the view screen of the Jupiter 2. "Or they could be scientists who are going to study the area that the Jupiter 2 was stranded in."

Will came up to the upper deck of the ship along with members of the family.

"Will, think you can make a time anomaly with this device?" John asked.

Will came between the seats then thought it over.

"I think I can induce that time anomaly, sir." Will said.

"We can use that in the event that our new friends may attack the vessel on the way to the other Jupiter 2." John said.

"How much of a time anomaly are we talking here?" Don said.

"A couple of decades that impacts the crafts around us." Will elaborated. "Outside, it could be . . . minutes."

"A delay!" Don's eyes widened. "A time delay?"

"Yes," Will said. "A time delay."

"A delay. . ." Maureen exchanged a knowing glance toward John who only nodded back at the implication.

"Now, let's assume these people are young people in that craft. Inexperienced. Untrained for this sort of chase. Arrogant. Easy to distract." John said. "Consider, that will give the Rescue Ship enough time to make the departure."

"I'll check." Will slid his finger off the holographic touch screen with a hum then with drew his hand. "If I overload it as the warning says that _can_ be possible."

"However." Don said.

"We need to be in stasis during the delay or else we will be aged equally as they are." Will said with a wince.

"I volunteer to be the pilot." Robot said.

"Then we have ourselves a plan." John said.

The men on the bridge grinned.

* * *

_Smith dreamed of better times as the feelings that he had fallen asleep._

_The feelings that he had fallen asleep with had all been become forgotten._

_The most pleasing part of the dream was that he were with Will, but older, shorter, by his side as they were returning to the Jupiter 2. It all felt too real to him, that it was the event which were happening._

_The door to the space pod opened before him as he were faced with a empty space pod bay then was the first to descend down the steps to the steps of the space pod and it felt as though he were walking on egg shells, dread filled the air, as he walked on toward the entrance of the ship with the younger man lagging behind him. The door to the upper deck opened and he were greeted by the Robinsons. Instead of smiles, he was faced with their arms folded and frowns._

* * *

"DANGER, DANGER! Cosmic storm is on going! DANGER!"

Judy was frozen where she sat in the pilot's seat roughly seven hours after the flight had began. She stared at the sun that the Jupiter 2 was heading with the oncoming starship heading after it. She regained a grip over herself then got up from the seat, made a mad dash to the lower decks of the ship, speeding into the center of the residential deck as the Jupiter 2 was shifting from side to side from the strikes against the ship.

"They're getting ready to jump!" Judy exclaimed.

"Everyone, to the bridge!" John announced.

"At least we have been in our suits all this time." Maureen said, amused as she slipped on her gloves.

The Robinsons went up the corridor as the ship tilted from side to side with the men in the lead and the women and children behind them. The door to the upper decks opened letting out the men first. Eddie was guided into her tube by Judy with Barbie the Lizard perched on to her shoulder. Don put Joshua inside then turned the tube on and faced Judy as she did the same with uncertainty in the air. Maureen and John squeezed the other's hand then went into their tube as Will was making alterations to the bubble.

"Will, HURRY!" Judy plead. "They are getting closer!"

"I am hurrying!" Will replied. "Robot, turn on their tubes! I got it!"

Will made a dash for the sections of tubes that were installed long ago in the journey for Smith then went inside one of them. Don and Judy reached their hands out of their tube then squeezed each other's hand quite scared of what was going to happen next then Judy smiled, reassuringly, _it's going to be okay, Don._

They withdrew their hands into their tubes as Robot kept himself on the floor unmoved as the ship slid from side to side pressing the buttons to the freezing tubes.

Will was the last of them to be put into stasis and remain standing in the freezing tube.

Robot came to the front half of the ship as the machine emitted a powerful explosive that expanded.

Behind the Rescue, the Jupiter 2 and Global Sedition became still lagging behind the Rescue. The Global Sedition torpedo remained suspended in space as the Rescue went on further away from the ship until it were so close to the sun that it jumped into hyper drive on the count of the Artificial Intelligence.

* * *

It was only later into the dream did he start encountering the nightmarish aspects of the dream.

The nightmares surfaced being separated forever from the Robinsons while they were all scattered all over the world with nothing to bring them back stuck forever in which they had gotten themselves into. The idealistic lovely, happy, and content dream became hell in all sense, form, and feeling becoming certain misery that paralleled the month long endeavor with animals on Takuchi Seven.

And he were all alone on the terrain, mutating, gradually becoming his counterpart losing hope. The mark of a cruel return in his mind that felt too real as dark clothing was woven into a cloak and he hid beneath it shielding others from the monstrous looks of the creature that he were becoming.

It was a _tragedy_.

* * *

The Jupiter 2 appeared once the time delay was over rejoining with the Rescue craft. Will was the first of the family to be awakened then collapse in front of the astronavigator with his head lowered quite lethargic. His darkened vision became brighter as the brown and gold scheme to the floor became clearer by the passing moment. He lifted himself up to his feet then made his way for the front console as the other members of the family arrived behind him.

"What do we do next, Will?" John asked.

"I am thinking." Will said, staring at the rescue ship ahead of them.

"The Jupiter 2 isn't there." Judy noted.

"I think they missed them."Joshua said.

"They went into hyper drive a couple of years after they did so naturally that is a conclusion." Don said.

Will's eyes flashed open then he snapped his fingers.

"Not if we make time go backwards!" Will exclaimed.

"Can we do that for this sector of space?" Maureen asked as the Robinsons became concerned of the possibility being feasible or not.

"I am checking." Will scrolled on the screen. "Hmm, interesting."

"What is it, Uncle Will?" Eddie asked.

"If we want to bring them back to the last known coordinates of the Jupiter 2 from this point of space then we have to cause a overload." Will said. "So yes, _it is_ possible!"

"The overload from earlier?" Judy questioned.

"Except different." Will held his index finger up. "I believe I can do it; instead of time going forward outside, it will go backwards from outside the ship. Long as the rescue is part of our field, they won't go backwards as well."

"And the Jupiter 2 will return to Earth right as Doctor Smith is leaving." Judy said.

"No, after." Will said.

"After?" Judy asked.

"This is how it will work; they will return after the rescue ship left." Will said.

"Which is a instant return." Eddie said.

"Exactly." Will nodded. "They will find the Jupiter 2 in suspended animation, our Jupiter 2, with the Global Sedition. The only way to preserve our chain of events is to contact the rescue ship."

"How do we do that?" John asked. "Throw a pebble at their door?"

"Negative." Robot said. "Throw a virus them through radio frequency."

"None of us are skilled in that, Robot." Judy said. "Hardly know how to make one."

"Even if we have, it's been too long since we have been forced to do that kind of mechanical reprogramming verbally without any interruptions." Maureen said then grimaced over the blurred memory of what lead to that incident. It was part of the dark era without the doctor before his return with a new face, new body, new history, and new age. "The memory has faded too much."

"It has." John agreed.

"I am quite are of one virus can that pass through their safe walls." Robot said.

The Robinsons faced toward Robot.

"Go on, Robot." John said.

The family backed away then watched as Robot went to the radio and unhooked it from the latch.

"Robot to United Global Space Force vessel." Robot announced and repeated several times until-

"UGSF Rescue." A familiar voice came over the radio that was monotone yet firm on the matter. "Surrender now or change your course. Any attempts to thwart this rescue mission will be met with violence. This ship is ready to change into attack mode should this become a volatile encounter. You have five minutes to leave or be destroyed."

Robot twirled toward the silent but frightened family.

"This will be done in five minutes." Robot twirled away then began to speak in binary.

The Robinsons grinned watching as Robot performed the task.

"What do we do about Global Sedition?" Don asked. "That organization's ship is really going to sabotage our mission."

"We deal with them in our newly born present." John said. "Right, Will?"

Will was busy setting up the next overload as he nodded.

"Right, dad." Will said as he looked back toward the family from the pilot's seat alongside Robot. "However, the side effect from this overload may delay the ship from attacking the Rescue including us by a couple of hours if we withdraw the rescue ship out of the overload program at the right time. Then, only then, with that delay, give them enough time to do the necessary rescue operations."

"How much of a delay are we talking here?" Judy asked.

"Between us and the rescue, that would be around a month or more that we wouldn't be in the same field of time. To us, it would be mere minutes." Will shook his hand. "Quantum Mechanics is not my sort of things but it is relatively easy to understand."

"I can see why he was able to make the time machine." Maureen said, bemused as amusement drifted from member to member.

Robot hooked the radio back in.

"I have neutralized us as a threat by changing the Artificial Intelligence of the ship to read-write mode." Robot announced. "He is willing to cooperate."

"Everyone, get down to the lower decks." John said. "Don, you too. Will and I are doing the flight. Robot, remain over there and watch our backs."

"Affirmative," Robot replied.

The women, the children, and Don went to the lower decks of the ship.

"Honestly, dad," Will said as he moved up from the seat and went to the passenger seat "Moments like these where we are working together are the best."

John grinned as he put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"We wouldn't have moments like these if Smith hadn't sent us off course." John said. "As entertaining as this is. . ."

"Nothing lasts forever." Will finished.

"I will miss this." John said. "When we become grounded."

"What about the aliens?"

"Not a chance!"

"Right now, I feel the same way." Will laughed and so did John.

"Alright now," John said. "Will, how close is Global Sedition?"

"They are one light year away and closing."

"Right when they are three light minutes away from us then you will do the overload."

"That should be easy." Will furrowed his red eyebrows. "Why three minutes away?"

"That is enough time to change course and be put on a wild goose chase with the time delay in catching up." John explained. "It'll be risky, Will."

"But makes distracting them all the easier." Will said. "We can do that. Not different from the many risky adventures this old ship has been on."

"In the time field, will they be suspended behind us as time outside continues on?" John asked.

"Yes," Then Will added. "Theoretically."

"Theoretically!" John's brows lifted at once.

"This is the second time I have had to do it but the first time I had to do it in a starship chase." Will elaborated. "I haven't done any simulations on it or had Robot compute it."

John looked aside then nodded, his fingers clasped beneath his chin with only his index fingers against his chin tapping together, at the reminder then leaned back into the chair.

"Then we have to hope it works." John then shifted toward Robot over loud sounds as did Will. "Will it work?"

The loud sounds from Robot ceased.

"It has a ninety-nine point one percent of working." Robot replied.

John shifted toward Will.

"It will work." John said, confident and Will laughed.

"GS IS ONE LIGHT DAY AWAY." Robot screamed, bobbing his helm up.

"John to lower decks." John said. "Over. Are you buckled up?"

"Buckled, darling." Maureen said. "We are ready. Over."

"It will be over before you know it." John said. "Over."

"I am ready, partner." Maureen said.

"Roger." John said.

"ONE LIGHT HOUR AWAY!" Robot screamed.

"It's ready!" Will announced.

"Ready or not!" John announced.

The Jupiter 2 flew closer toward the rescue ship with the craft behind them gaining speed. Will tapped on the blue glowing view screen then watched as a blue light emitted from the machine as the ship fell into the field of USGS Rescue. The Global Sedition craft became pause as it were preparing to fire torpedos at it that were sliding out from beneath the hulls that had become dislodged.

They watched as the Jupiter 2 come into field view retreating from where it had once been. Then Will manipulated the screen briefly ending the overload and the Jupiter 2 flew over the spacecraft with Global Sedition chasing after them. Will cheered, loudly, as the craft flew after them.

"Will, are we in limbo?" John asked. "If that is what I think a time delay means."

"This time delay makes that a very real possibility." Will nodded, gravely. "Chronos's lab must be in ruins by now. Going to take him awhile to cool off the flames and repair the damage."

"Then we can do whatever the hell we want and face no real consequences with it." John said.

Will stared at his father for a long moment as he blinked.

"Yeah." Will said. "Except Global Sedition and us are the only ones in the limbo zone."

John grew a broad grin.

"Will, how do you feel about taking a road trip around this galaxy with the family keeping them on a goose chase?" John asked.

Will raised his brows, startled, by the rare devious side shown from his father.

"Hmm. . ." Will thought it over. "I mean, the chance to cause certain suffering upon another person. However, they were sent to kill Doctor Smith and the Anti-Matter Robinsons. They are people, young people, who haven't been through the millennial war, they can be a exception as they don't know what being miserable is in space means."

"First things first, where to send them that's terrible and sees if they are capable of surviving a eternity into space attacking us."

Robot bobbed his helm up.

"I have a idea!"

"Where to, Robot?" John asked.

"There are frozen planets all over this system."

"No." The men replied.

"How about a tidally locked planet?" Robot recommended.

"No." The men shook their heads.

"A planet like Mars." Robot said.

"They would die, Robot." Will said. "We want them to suffer."

"Will, what does that say." John pointed toward the blue glowing screen.

Will squinted at the screen then withdrew.

"It says the time delay will end in ninety-thousand three hundred years."

"Ninety-thousand years!" John exclaimed.

"No, it says nine hundred years." Will admitted with a shake of his head. "Feels like ninety thousand three hundred years."

"That's far less." John said. "With this time delay, is our aging arrested as well?"

"We are the nexus of it," Will said. "Nine hundred years will be just a day. If we get further and further away from the ground zero, time will be passing but it won't be to us for the second time since we were there. It should wear off at the time that the machine has said."

"Let's get these people into trouble and change their mind about fulfilling their mission at all." John said. "Robot, inform the others that we will be landing."

"Eventually." Will's voice dripped in amusement.

" _Eventually_." John agreed then they shared a fist bump.

* * *

Abruptly, the pod deactivated. Smith was dragged out by a pair of hands as his vision began to adjust and he cleared his throat with a tremble. He was sent falling to the ground with a thud then groaned. He lifted himself up then spotted West and Jeb side by side looking upon him. It became quite apparent that they had plans for him and that he wasn't dreaming any more as horror fell upon him.

"If you like to space him, you can do it to this version." Jeb said.

"I like this welcoming present." West said.

Smith shrieked as he tried to crawl away then staggered to his feet.

"Ooooh no, you don't!" West yanked him back.

Smith whimpered, huddled in the corner of the room, with his back against a panel looking upon the man in terror.

"Jeb, spare me! Spare me! Jeb!"

"Have fun." Jeb walked out.

"JEEEB!"

The layered air lock door was sent open then West came over to him then dragged him into the air lock and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Major, don't! Don't! Listen to me for one moment!" Smith plead as the door was close in front of him.

West smiled, staring from the other side, then began to put in the command.

"One moment." West said.

"There is a grown up version of Will Robinson running around and I am suspect that I am right;there will be someone or someones very furious at you if you press that button!"

"I would be doing them a favor."

Smith scowled, glaring back, that became a snarl.

"You wouldn't be doing them a favor." Smith shook his head. "Not in the least." His voice became softer. "Not yourself."

Smith could imagine the fury of the Robinsons all too well. John didn't care much for his counterpart who bore his name but his soul neither did members of the family far as he recalled when it came to their individual counterparts. Destruction of the imposters in a moment of rage, loss, and hurt who only be satisfactory for the Robinsions destroying the people who allowed for his death. His death would turn them into their Anti-Matter counterparts for only a moment, wreck them afterwards and grieve on their own time for making it too late.

"You can't threaten me." West said.

"It's a warning." Smith said.

"A empty threat." West said as he smirked.

"The Robinsons don't take it too kindly for imposters as do I."

"I am going to let you suffocate to death in the air-lock." West pointed toward the older man. "If your fantasy doesn't happen in the next four and a half hours, you're dead meat, and you'll be ejected out of the ship."

"Don't let your anger consume you." Smith plead. "This time. I had to throw you to spare _the_ Don West." Smith flinched at the reminder of what he had done. "The one who had more control over his anger than you."

Smith looked aside quite fondly at the memory then shifted his attention upon West.

"If you do that, you would be a Major West." Smith's voice was gentler but softer and sincere. "If you don't-" his voice shifted. "you will _never_ be Don West."

Smith was leaning forward with one hand on the air lock door glaring back at West.

"Someone who never trusted a door that COULD NOT HAVE POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO SAAAAABBBBBOOOOOTAAAAGEEEEE."

West folded his arms keeping his gaze fixed on the man.

"You're wasting oxygen." West said.

"It is worth wasting to me. Now go, enjoy your newfound future," Smith said, dismissively. "but remember; I saved the mission." Smith stepped back from the window cupping his hands together in his lap. "You made the mission a _failure_ dragging me along to the ship where I come from."

"Where you come from?" West asked.

His disguise lowered then West's eyes flashed open and he stepped back at the man in his forties with three eyes.

"The Anti-Matter world." Smith replied.

West fell to the ground staring at the older man who had pits of resentment staring back at him. West fled out of the bridge then the doors closed behind the younger man who in all manners appeared to be quite terrified.

Smith sat down and placed his back against the wall. He had spared himself, the crew, but-The Professor was never going to amend his error in how distant that he had became with his son. John was going to be entirely focused on creating the hypergate if the back up family hadn't finished on the progress already. Smith had hope that the professor would be force to slow down and focus on his family by Professor Maureen Robinson's hands.

All in all, the changes were taking effect. Smith lifted his hand up observing how it were becoming transparent. He had eliminated the crux of his existence. His hand felt heavy as though it were made of concrete but he found the strength to lift it up then weakly dropped it. Smith felt relief for the end to come to his doorstep without any further pain, without any further wounds, or any further passage through the gates of Hell. Smith slouched against the wall feeling his eyes becoming heavy as did his head.

He could just let go and slip into the dark. It was right in his grasp. It was a switch that his fingers had a grip on. If he slipped the switch forward then it would be over and it would be over. Will would find a way home. He always found a way home. He always found a way to make it out of troubling situations and this was no different. Smith's grip on the switch became more full of more resolve.

It would take a long time of getting home but the boy would be able to do it on his own. Smith had faith in the boy as some of the warm feelings on someone that he respected sunk in a _good_ day _._ He thought this over as the hours seemed to be waning by. The oxygen level in the large cramped air-lock was quite plentiful than what he thought it were.

* * *

Abruptly, Smith was thrown against the wall and slumped down to the corner. His eyes flashed open as his worst nightmare was coming to life. The ship was thrown from side to side throwing him against the floor to the walls. Smith searched for a crevice as the ship was in the middle of transmit fleeing from what was undoubtedly a attack.

Smith grabbed on to the railing of the air lock door then wedged his feet into a newly found crevice. He looked on spotting a familiar saucer shooting rockets after a triangle craft that was firing upon the craft. It wasn't the pancake version but simply the original, welcoming, and more appealing counterpart.

A certain warmth spread from his chest seeping in through every ounce of his being as all felt that not terrible and everything was going to be okay. It was _them._ _William. Penelope. Judith. Maureen. Don. John. Debbie the Bloop. Robot Robinson (or General Utilities Non Theorizing Environmental Robot; Gunter Robinson)._ And their new addition to the family.

Older, wiser, but determined on getting their answers. The reasons behind his departure as did the pain didn't matter now. They wanted him back despite the pieces of his world reprogramming bits of theirs into his dark world and were willing to live in that even if it meant never reaching Alpha Centauri. The Mission didn't matter to them. It was _Family_.

Smith grinned from ear to ear spotting the craft coming after him with a sense of belonging and wholesome until he recalled the basic physics of anti-matter and pro-matter.

"Oh no. Oh oh, no! It can't be! It mustn't be!" Smith grew horrified by what he were witnessing. "Anti-matter! Pro-Matter! IN THE SAME SPACE!"

Smith attempted to wiggle his foot out of the crevice as the space battle was waged behind him.

"Come on! Come on!"

Smith collapsed with each attempt to get his feet out of the boots.

"Oh heavens."

Smith lifted himself up then slid forward, balancing himself between the two walls, positioning so that he was able to watch the space battle. He watched in silent horror as the Jupiter 2 was becoming coated in dark shoot and damaged hulls from the combat then the ship floated closer to the triangle craft and sent dozens of rockets upon it then quickly sped off from the ship.

The triangle ship exploded then flew on toward the craft as Smith could only stare at what was oncoming.

"Oh shit!"

He stepped back then smacked the door of the air-lock repeatedly,

"Let me out! Let me out! Spare me! SPARE ME! PLEASE!"

The others aboard the ship were looking out the front window in awe as one of them pressed a button and a forcefield appeared around the ship.

"Ssssppaaare mee! Spare me! Spare me! Spare me! Please, I will do anyth-"

The force of the collision threw Smith aside hitting his head against the wall including the adjoining wall to the air-lock. He collapsed without a thud to the ground falling unconscious. Just like that the battle was over from outside the ship as the cosmic storm waged once the Jupiter 2 flew close by then went on safely a few light years away from the Rescue that remained positioned the way that it was.

A orange and gray space pod jettisoned out from beneath the Jupiter 2 then hurled through space toward the back end of the UGSF Rescue. Will stood at the bridge of the vehicle with his hand covered up by gauze keeping his grips on the handle while donned in a Jupiter 2 space suit. Once, Will used to feel like a small child. But, now standing in front of the console, that felt entirely different on the issue.

He watched as the back end of the craft opened up and he were instantly thrown back to the Derelict sucking in the Jupiter 2 by tractor beam. It brought upon a vivid flashback being behind his father and the major, a small boy surrounded by the family, with Smith across from them, as they stared in awe oblivious to his ranting. His grip became solidified on the craft as the interior of the craft was pitch black. Will continued flying the Space Pod until he saw a landing pad close by. He directed the Space Pod down then set it down to the ground with deliberate care.

"Space Pod to Jupiter 2, I have landed. Over."

"Will, remember what we went over. Over."

"Don't shake my counterpart's hand, got it. Over."

"Affirmative. Over."

"Roger."

Will hooked the radio receiver up then turned away and walked toward the space pod door. He grasped the Space Pod by the handle then slid it open. The door unlatched then slid open for the young man revealing the dark interior of the ship. There was little spotlight unlike the original Derelict that had pools of light pouring from above making it easy to go through the area. He descended from the space pod leaving the door open behind him then walked on.

His walk was slow but concise as he went through the dark corridor of the craft. He observed there were beds of water from corner to corner as though it were mainly a aquatic craft than anything else. He continued his path forward then paused looking along the walls observing there were models of Robot the Robot in each and every one of them. Will was frozen where he stood at the fleet of Rambler Crane models that were embedded in the wall in horror.

Will's eyes flipped open in shock as he observed the passageway with disdain. Will shuddered; _a army of Rambler Cranes?_ That was more horrifying than what Doctor Smith described this version of the Derelict as. The world that the older man had described in his last days of being aboard the Jupiter 2 with his family became far more darker, cruel, and demeaning. His world was better than the one that Doctor Smith was born in.

Will continued the ascension up the ship. He came to the upper deck of the ship then paused in his tracks spotting a dark man and a small collection of a crew with a Rambler Crane Model that had red paint decorating his figure with military symbols and several hand prints. Instead of the familiar secondary red like but orange theme was a blue theme that appeared to have been painted on.

"Where is he?" Will asked.

Jeb pointed toward the air lock door.

"Over there." Jeb said.

Will's eyes flashed open then he scowled at the man.

"What kind of Space Force are you?" Will asked. "I thought you were to represent the best of Earth not the worst."

"The brightest!" West said.

Will paused, his hands rolling into fists, then turned toward the man.

"You." Will said. "You."

"Yes, I am me." West said then became puzzled at first then sighed and rolled his eyes. "I take it that Smith talked bad about me."

Will approached the younger man then slapped him.

"Ow!" West said.

"That's for ruining my friend's life." He stepped back as his hand was trembling as the man rubbed his cheek.

"Hey!" West argued. "You're biased, you heard it from him."

Rage filled his veins at the comment being made.

"This comes from me MEETING you long ago." his fingers squeezed against his palm quite tightly that it started to bleed as the major turned toward the man quite surprise. "You're not a Don West; you're a **DRUN**."

"He's a terrorist! What could I do?" West asked. "He tried to kill us all!"

Will came to the air-lock door then pressed a button then shifted toward the younger man.

"Lock him in his cell." Will said, his gaze never wavering off the major. "And just, leave him there until you can land somewhere and exile him for the time being."

Will turned around as a small but familiar aged voice came from the doorway, "Will. . . William?" as a familiar face was propping himself up. West's eyes flipped open as the members of the Rescuer stepped back with gasps glancing toward the younger major. The major's jaw dropped as Will observed the man's feet were trapped in a large crevice then he chuckled and laughed as his figure shook in bemusement over the older man's predicament.

"Doctor Smith." Will said in bemusement. "How the tables turn on you so often."

"It wasn't always this way!" Smith protested. "Now, my dear boy, help me get my feet out of here."

Will shot a glare toward Jeb and the stunned men, not needing to ask how long he had been there as the answer was in front of him, then knelt down to his level.

"That's not the same man I put in there!" West said.

"Ah, thank you." Smith said as Will edged out Smith's left boot.

"You've got it really stuck in there."

"Have to be thorough from being thrown in to what could have been my tomb like a rag doll." Smith replied.

"And got it out!" Will announced, then used the adjoining wall as his support up and Smith grinned.

"William. . " Will took the man's hand then helped him up to his feet. "How long have I been gone?"

"Ten years." Will said.

"Ppph, you look OLDER than that!" Smith said.

"It's been fifteen years for me." Will admitted.

"So that makes you. . . ." Smith moved his hands in the air as though performing a basic math equation then cupped his hands together as his eyes flipped open. "Twenty-"

"Twenty-eight." Will said.

"Twenty-eight!" Smith exclaimed as he beamed. "You're so young!" he clenched the younger man by the side of his arms. "Oh, please tell me you have spent those years at Alpha Centauri. Please."

"No, and no, and no." Will declined with a shake of his head watching the man's demeanor change from shock to contempt withdrawing his hands.

"That IS young." Smith argued.

"That it isn't." Will said.

"You're older than me, you cannot argue about youth!" Smith replied then folded his arms. "You still haven't got quite used to a human life span." The older man lifted his brows, sincerely, but concerned as his voice became even softer. "Haven't you?"

"Well, that is beside the point, Doctor Smith." Will said.

"Where is the bubble-headed booby, anyway?" Smith looked around. "Normally, he is with you."

"Back aboard the Jupiter 2." Will said. "Said it brings back memories."

Smith frowned as his attention returned on to the younger man.

"He couldn't gravel himself to face this tragic ship." Smith shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut, clasping his hands at the upsetting chain of events that were set off by the visit to the ship. "Neither would I if I had the choice. . . ."

"That isn't the same man we put in there four hours ago." Jeb said. "Who is he? What kind of magic trick is this?"

"I hate games." West said.

"So do I." Jeb said.

Will looked back at Smith then back.

"He doesn't look anything different to me." Will said.

"His eyes are different!" West said. "And his eyebrows!"

"And now you're going to say that I am short, hmm?" Smith lifted his brows.

West took a moment to observe him then frowned as he noticed a discrepancy.

"No, unfortunately, you're still a tall thorny stick in my ass." West said.

"Dow dare you inappropriate characterize me as a stick!" Smith's eyes flipped open displaying rage and fury then pointed at him with a finger. Will grabbed the man by the arm acting as a anchor preventing him from going on toward the younger. "I am a magnificent peacock in comparison to your small minded narrow thick headed _abusive_ tendencies!"

"Show off peacock more like it!"

"SHOW OFF?" Smith walked off throwing his hands into the air. "SHOWWWW OFFF? SHOOOOWWW OFFF?"

Will turned his attention off Smith as the man repeated "Show off" quite hammy with each iteration.

"If that's someone else, gentlemen," Will pointed toward the air-lock. "then where did the prisoner you put in there go?"

The two men in front of the officers of the Rescue exchanged a glance then approached the space pod for several moments over Smith's repetition. Will approached the older man with a shake of his head then caused him to stop stewing with a tap of his finger on the man's shoulder. Smith smiled, fondly, upon the younger man then the smile faded with a tinge of sorrow and regret. Will smiled then they turned around from the mass group of officers.

"Have anything to say to them?" Will asked, his voice had fallen soft.

Smith sighed.

"No." Smith lowered his head, grimacing, his eyes squeezed shut at the thought of speaking to the group as his stomach twisted and his fingers rolled into fists. "Only words of how his strength was shown off in the worst of ways."

"Neither do I." Will said, Smith opened his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I have nothing good to say to them."

Smith's mood shifted to a warm one as he put a hand on the side of the man's left arm.

"Let's go home, William." Smith replied.

Will looked back toward the group.

"Morons." Will said. "All of them. Don't have any common sense."

"Indeed, they are!" Smith agreed.

Will and Smith walked away with laughter leaving the puzzled groups officers. Their laughter died as they traveled through the long winding corridors of the ship heading into the bottom of the ship. They came to a pause at the long passageway when Will spotted a young boy in the center of the path. Smith froze there as the hair all over his body raised being back in that specific passageway and trembled. Almost sensing his friend's distress, Will looked back at him.

"This is where we were attacked by the alien spiders." Smith said. "Behind that door-"

"Had a elevator that lead to the ship." Will said. "Where you were scarred."

"Yy-y-yes." Smith's voice became broken as Will put a hand on his shoulder.

"We're not running from anyone, Doctor Smith." Will said. "It has a elevator and stair way setting."

Smith's breathing was shaky at best as his shoulders were trembling.

"Doctor Smith, close your eyes, visualize that you're at Tremfya. Visualize this hard. Now, when you open your eyes, all you'll see is the entire scheme of this room is covered up by that," His hand on the older man's shoulder as Smith closed his eyes. "This is a narrow valley. Are you getting that down?"

Smith nodded.

"I like you you to remember that incident differently. Like you did with my sister, imagine that it was rocks blocking your way and alien space spiders were birds."

"Rotten creatures." Smith scowled with a small smile.

"Now, can you see that instead?"

"I can."

"Do as I said. You can open your eyes."

Smith opened his eyes and stared then looked toward Will.

"How did you do that?" Smith asked.

"You did that, Doctor Smith." Will replied. "You are pretty good at making lies. A illusion should count as one."

Smith thought it over.

"I have done plenty of illusions around you and you didn't even know it."

"Since when?"

"I'll tell you on the way."

Satisfied with the promise, Will walked on, as the younger boy was staring at the changed scenery around him and big eyes that belonged to a curious explorer. It was Smith who came to a abrupt halt ahead of the younger man. The younger boy looked upon Will who came to a halt not two feet away.

"Who are you?"

"I am Will Robinson. The Pro-Matter version, from a different universe, just a multiphasic barrier away. And you must be the Will Robinson of this world."

The boy nodded.

"Why are you here for him?"

"Because he is my friend."

"Why are you looking at me that way?"

"What way?"

"Like you're disappointed in me." He looked upon the younger man in confusion.

The older Will sighed, lowering his head, squeezing his eyes shut then raised his head up.

"Will, you betrayed Doctor Smith several times over, rejected him after he were infected, and you treated him like a pariah for a month."

"A month." the boy said, solemnly.

"So yes, I _am_ disappointed in you." Will admitted. "Very disappointed in you."

The boy sulked, looking aside, quite irked.

"It doesn't sound like me."

"It doesn't." Will agreed with a nod. "Enjoy your life, Will."

"I will." His voice was quite small.

"You'll be able to. I envy you for that. . . Don't even know him this time." Will looked upon the boy with a certain fondness at a time that he had could have dealt with and sorrow that was evident. "Won't be remotely miserable sleeping on the way to Alpha Centauri."

The boy raised his head up at the last part.

"You lost him?" the younger Will asked.

Will looked toward the silent man by his side then back again.

"I got him back but a little different _."_ Will replied. "He has come a long way becoming _who_ _he is_ not **what** he **was** before."

Will walked passed the young boy with quiet steps as Smith followed him.

"You were here for him too?" The younger Will asked.

Smith paused, his hands rolled into fists, then shifted toward the boy.

"William, while I was becoming a monster, you were already that monster." His words came out quite harshly upon the boy. "I thought I was the monster here but it turns out that I wasn't."

Smith grimaced.

"It became you, your siblings, the major, your mother, and your father."

"We . . No, my family wouldn't be that mean."

"They _were_!" His anger flashed as he glared upon the boy with emphasis. "They never asked me how I was doing, they never hung around me, they never showed me what was going on in their lab in treating my scar." Smith paused, trying to keep the back the next few words that were so difficult for a child to hear but easy for a adult to say. "They didn't have a heart."

Smith looked on with a sigh toward the doorway then back toward the younger boy as Will set in the stair case command.

"I have forgiven you, but. . ."

"But what?"

"All I see is a monster in the form of a child. Like you saw me as a monster. Anyone can be a monster if they don't treat people right, anyone can be pro-matter or anti-matter. Your world is full of anti-matter, William."

"How do I change that?"

"You know the answer but you wouldn't take it."

"You don't know me, Doctor Smith."

Smith's demeanor became grave.

"You would try to go back in time and fix it going on to destroy a entire planet."

The boy was quiet.

"That is why you wouldn't do it."

"Is it any better than last time?"

"This sequence of events is better than how it happened the first time."

"How?"

"Because you were found and I don't have to die as a monster."

"But, you're going back to being lost."

"So?"

"You hate space."

"If you don't enjoy what you have then you will become a miserable, bitter, reckless man full of regrets. You have to focus on trying to make the best out of things or else you will become a wishful old man."

"You're not the man who Don and Don put into stasis on the Rescue."

Smith was quiet looking back.

"I am _a_ Doctor Smith and I am not the Smith who was put into stasis as Jeb has so described."

"What do you have now that you didn't have then?"

Smith looked on toward the older Will then smiled.

"Family." Smith looked upon the shorter boy with a shake of his head and certain sorrow. _We could have been friends. The best of friends. But, that won't happen._ "Adieu, my dear boy."

The men went down the corridor further and further until they were at the docking bay. Smith stared at the familiar registry that was easy to see from a distant but more blurred to his vision that was aging on the side of the space pod decorating in scarring and shoot that showed it had been through battles of its own that were untold. Smith turned his attention upon the younger man with curiosity in his eyes.

"What kind of trouble has your family been in recently?"

"Oh, I forgot to clean that. It's from eight-seven-six-almost nine years ago."

"My dear boy, you mean to imply that you have neglected this prosperous machine for overly a decade!"

Will walked on then paused in his tracks turning in the direction of the older man.

"No-" Will paused, puckering in his lips, thinking it over, then slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Why not?" Smith folded his arms.

"It has bad memories associated to it." Will lowered his head as he walked on, wincing at the dark memories, then opened the door to the craft. "Lots of them." Smith's face faltered in dismay as the younger man got aboard the space pod. "Most of us can't clean it because of it."

Smith lifted his head up in defiance as he unfolded his arms and clasped his hands in his lap.

"The first planet that the professor clears for landing, I will start a endeavor and perform a 'cleaning program' for this rusting luxurious transport." Then Smith amended, waving a finger in mid-air, endearingly. "With Robot's help to make the qualities of water needed to give her a good rinse."

Will closed the door with a laugh then went to the front half of the space pod. Smith felt as though he were grinning harder than he had in a long time. It was kind, soothing, it was generous that paralleled his first flight in the Space Pod to the Jupiter 2 that was full of uneasy anticipation of the Robinsons's reactions upon his return.

The Space Pod lifted up then flew out of the Rescue where it was released at the back end of the craft. The Space Pod flew slowly toward the Jupiter 2 that was coated with dents, scores of shoot, and dirt from a long journey that it had been part of with the promised discussion. The Space Pod went inside of the Jupiter 2, the bay closed, as the Space Pod remained floating until the landing pad became cleared. Will settled the ship down.

Smith looked on with uncertainty toward the doorway of the Jupiter 2 feeling his heart racing against his chest with fear as he looked back at the hazy dream and a certain sense of anxiety fell upon him. Will put a hand on the edge of the older man's shoulder then the negative pangs of emotion fell with a tremble.

"Had a nightmare about this happening, Doctor Smith?"

"Yes. Plenty of them. All of them never ended well."

"I had nightmares like those, too." Will shared. "But, it's all ended well? Hasn't it?"

"It has," Smith nodded, softly, his features easing with a smile toward the shorter man then frowned as he just observed something notable and Will withdrew his hand. "I can hardly believe you're still short after all these years."

Will raised his brows, incredulous.

"How am I short?" Will said.

Smith scowled then with one hand compared their height.

"I am 6'0, you are 5'7." Smith replied.

Will raised his brows a little further in disbelief.

". . . Doctor Smith, you're literally 5'9." Will said as he squinted at the man and there were plain noticed features of the man's aging that stood out more than they had before. "You're shorter than how I remember you." Will pointed his finger at the older man. "Your height is changing-what, you must be, over forty-three? No, no, no, forty-nine? No, older than _that_ to be this short!"

"Long legs always help." Smith went on ignoring the comment with a shake of his hand. "Thank you for the reassurance, my dear boy." he smiled at the fretting coming from the younger man. "I sincerely appreciate your sincerity."

Smith took a few short steps forward, slid the leveler, then watched as the door opened facing the door entrance of the ship. Smith descended down the stairs of the space pod then leaped down to the floor on the last step. Smith felt long the gadget along his chest that was a mere annoyance. He slipped it off his chest then dropped it to the ground and looked upon it in disgust. It was a strange long flat metallic object that reverted to its original form that was quite bulky. Will took out a miniature vaporizer then aimed and fired at the device.

Smith watched as it vanished in a red mist then Will put it back.

"Doctor Smith, are you over sixty?" Will asked. "That would account for your height shrinking."

"One does not ask for ones age or assume their age in their golden years, William." Smith said as he walked on.

Will noted how he walked, it was different compared to how he walked when he entered their world. It was a simple but slow stride that lacked the once speediness that Smith once had going from one point to the next point. His steps were short but he retained the speediness in yet a different way that was similar to the original version and the way that he seemed to be going was different.

The first of many walks that he were familiar to when it came to this different version was a reluctant trudging and depressed normal-but-strolling-walk that he had seen days after their stay into Takuchi Seven that went away on Tremfya that Will had become familiar to seeing. The man's face had subtle differences since Will had last seen him, but in all, he could see the soul of the man who had sent his father, his sister, and himself out of the bar all those years ago looking back at him. Instead of residual calmly restrained anger; there was a certain happiness.

That was different compared to how Smith had been in the last centuries before his untimely demise. He wasn't happy about being lost - and now, he was perfectly content. Will thought, _if he hadn't died, would he be smiling_? Will looked back for a moment. _No, he wouldn't, he'll be acting miserable to be back lost in space but relieved._ This version was relieved and happy to be aboard the Jupiter 2 with possibility of being lost have been accepted and embraced.

Will joined Smith's side then watched as the door was open then entered the bridge of the ship side by side; Smith bracing himself - out of habit - clasping his hands in his lap. Instead of a empty bridge like his initial entrance to their lives, it was a full bridge that consisted of the Robinsons who wore smiles and two new faces were among them with Robot among them included a new pet.

Before Smith could react, he was yanked into a group hug by Judy that included the women, the grandchildren children, the purring lizard, and Robot. Instead of a disgruntled Smith on being hugged so suddenly, Smith accepted it on the verge of deaths, squeezing Judy's free hand.

"Will, will you do the honors?" Don asked.

"Yeah." Will said with a small smile mixed with a nod.

John took his gaze off the radar.

"We're good to go." John said. "No disruptencies in sight."

"Not like the one that delayed us getting back." Don snorted.

Will took off the small piece of a mask around the small orb then it reverted to its original form. He pressed a button then in a bright gray cloud, the Jupiter 2 vanished from the Rescue's sensors and from the eyes of the crew aboard the ship below the massive saucer. John paused as he looked on from the view screen.

"I know how far we are from Earth." Don said.

"How far are we?" John asked.

"Roughly two years or three." Don said. "We were here during the limbo years. This is where we found other members of Debbie's species."

"Planet of the Bloops." John said, bemused.

Smith fainted behind the two men with a shriek "THREE YEARS?" over the concern of the family and Robot flailed a fan over the older man's head once word came to him about the distance by Will. The family laughed over the fallen older man.


	41. Chapter 41

"This is Joshua," Judy introduced. "You helped us bring him to the world, Doctor Smith."

"Pleased to meet you, my dear child." Smith said with a small nod gazing upon the boy.

"Hi." Joshua said as he had a small wave back at the elderly man. "And this my sister, " he gestured toward Eddie. "Eddie."

"Eddie?" Smith repeated. "As in Eda, Edna, Edwina, or Ednah?"

"It's short for Edvard." Eddie said. "It's Danish." She turned her attention upon Judy. "Right, mother?"

"It is." Judy said, proudly as Smith grinned upon the young girl then his grin faded noticing a member of the family was missing.

"Where is Penny?" Smith asked.

"She decided to stay back on Earth with her boyfriend and Debbie." Will replied.

"Isn't it bed time for you two?" Maureen asked the children over their yawns.

"I'm not tired!" Eddie protested as she yawned.

"Nor am I!" Joshua exclaimed.

"Yes, you are." Don said as he looked on warmly upon the children. "You're rubbing your eyes, you're having difficulty keeping your eyes open, and Eddie is about to fall over asleep."

Smith caught the young girl from falling.

"Alright, we are tired." Eddie said over Smith's laughter.

Judy guided the children into their shared cabin then slid the door close behind them as they made their way into their beds.

* * *

By the time that Joshua came back to, he could hear the older man's whispering that was quite non-chalant but haunted in tone. It was quiet from outside of his shared cabin with his younger sister. He slipped out of bed, came to the door, then gently slid it open. Smith was leaning against a frame appearing quite distant, his grandfather's hair all unkempt much like his father and uncle, none of them looked too well.

"And that's what happened after my version of glass being broken." Smith finished quite quietly.

The older man lifted his head up with a smile.

"I am tired with the days worth of hearing your stories and telling mine." Smith began on a new tangent of conversation. "Perhaps we can carry this conversation tomorrow?"

"Smith, what you had to say about those detention centers-"

"Concentration camps." Maureen's voice was icy as the family shuddered.

"Is more than _enough_." John finished the comment that Don had started as he got up from the chair while he propped himself up with a hand on the table eying at the older man.

"And I am beat." Maureen said, warmly, stretching her arms with a yawn as she leaned against the chair.

Joshua closed his cabin, tiredly, then returned to his bed with a huff as the Robinsons nodded until it were only Smith in the center of the Jupiter 2 with Don and John manning the bridge of the ship. Smith looked on toward the dozen so passageways leading to a dozen so cabins. Smith went toward the cabin that he had last exited from then looked at the cabin from across where Robot was resting. He looked aside, regretful, lowering his head, then slid the door open.

Smith entered the pristine cabin and closed the door behind him. He slipped off the uniform to the ground setting it aside to the chair beside him and slipped into the sleeping bag that concealed his figure. He fell into a dead sleep and was blissfully taken into a familiar welcoming void.

* * *

_Smith was pulled through the familiar dark night with a crescent moon that faintly hung over head as he walked and whistled along the way with branches that were full of leaves unlike the way that he had entered this place for the first time only a long time ago, it had to have been thirty-four, forty, forty-one years since he had trekked his way since he had entered this dark place. It wasn't bright as he recalled the previous dreams when it came to walking through a forest._

_"Where shadows lurk; evil grows."_

_It was a familiar voice, younger, striking, deep, but quite alien._

_"Wherever darkness may lurk - as a shadow from a shade - under a tree or a tunnel."_

_Smith whistled._

_"I have hidden in one such place for survival."_

_Smith paused in his tracks as the hair all over his skin raised._

_"Where shadows live," the reminder echoed. "evil can begin anew."_

_Smith was tackled against the ground then struggled to get up yet his arms and legs refused to move. He heard the sound of a thud behind him as his heart began to race, the whole world felt as though it were trembling while sweat began to pour down his skin, dread breathing down his neck, his heart felt heavier, as everything felt different all around him.  
_

_"You have a lot of cracks in your mind, my dear -" Smith's ankles were gripped then he were flipped over crashing to the ground back first. "-little -" The long neck extended with a hiss and smirked upon the older man. "sir."_

* * *

Smith awoke with a small; "No!"

He looked down upon his trembling hands that felt less alive, clean, vibrant.

The looks of his hands were more weighed down by the fading of youth. His cabin was darker than it was normal and felt empty. Smith looked on spotting a clump of clothing that were set on the table across from him. He set on the edge of the bed then wiped the sweat coming down his skin then sobbed quietly into his hands. Smith lowered his hand down into his lap with a sigh.

He quietly put on the unchanged silver and red uniform then moved out of the cabin and made his way for the shower. The sonic shower caused Smith to shiver as he stood there, bare naked, rubbing his shoulders as his teeth chattered together. He flinched at the feeling of water pouring down his back with pain that was similar to hearing a high pitched alarming noise and he stiffened for only a moment. He changed quietly into the new uniform that was black with bright secondary theme.

The pain felt real, harmful, and significant along with a familiar itch. Smith stopped patting his uniform as he froze staring at the mirror as it dawned on him. He unzipped both sides of the uniform, unclenched it from the side of the trousers, then turned his back to the mirror. He slid up the uniform with a tremble as his breath hitched. Smith took a gulp as he saw the familiar scar that was swollen on the right side of his back that lacked the blue vulnerable nerve.

Smith looked on toward the doorway of the bathroom for a long moment then lowered the clump of clothing. He zipped the sides up, hooked it back into the sides, and felt along the side of the uniform then along his side with his head hung low. Smith raised his shoulders up; _Mr Blue, it appears that we must meet once again._

He raised his head up facing the doorway of the bathroom. _And enjoy what little time I can afford with the Robinsons before going on to face the consequences of my actions._ His fingers clenched against the palm of his hands. _Then get them home ahead of schedule._ Smith smiled, his forehead pressed against the door, contemplating what was needed to be done to ensure it happened. _That should be relatively easy to do. Then I shall rejoin them more whole than before._

* * *

Smith exited the restroom to find the Robinsons, asides to Don and John, at the long galley table with cups of coffee that greeted him with smiles.

"Good morning, Doctor Smith!" Judy greeted.

"Good morning," chimed the rest of the Robinsons with smiles.

Smith set aside his old clothing in the hamper alongside the door.

"Good morning," Smith greeted, pleased.

"We'll be landing for our first stop in three weeks time." Maureen said. "Won't be much of a delay as it will be part of our travel time."

"How long will shall this crew be stretching our legs?" Smith asked.

"A month," Maureen said.

"Then in one month, I will insist that the professor entrusts me with the space pod for a thorough cleaning process!" Smith proclaimed as he sat down into one of the additional chairs at the table with a meal prepared for him and the others. "It will be more worthwhile to do this planet side."

"John would agree with you on that." Maureen said.

"Excellent information!" Smith said, happily, clapping his hands together then rubbed both of them with a grin.

"The Jupiter is in need of much cleaning once we get down to the planet." Maureen finished her train of thought.

"Mom, when have we showered the Jupiter 2's hulls?" Judy asked.

"It's hard to remember." Maureen admitted.

"Oh, I do." Joshua said. "That was what?"

"Four years ago?" Eddie said.

"Maybe five." Will replied then took a sip from the cup. "I remember because we had to keep on the schedule and we generally kept forgetting to clean the outside of the ship."

Smith proceeded to snicker, to cackle, then laugh as his laughter boomed in positivity, while leaning back into the chair. Robot twirled away from where he had been stationed detecting the change in the laughter's voice. It sounded unlike what few times that Smith did laugh around him as the rest of the Robinsons proceeded to laugh with him paying no heed to the change of the laughter that lacked the sinister part, the dark part.

It sounded like the laughter of a _different_ man.

It wasn't just his quantum signature that had changed.

Smith, too, was _changing_ but it wasn't harming him significantly in the very least.


	42. Chapter 42

One day, Don came down from the upper decks to the lower deck finding Smith gently lifting his head up and down against the chess table across from Joshua who was yawning as he got up and headed off to bed. Smith stopped smacking his forehead against the chess board with a groan.

"Joshy beat you again?"

Smith lifted himself up then pressed his back against the chair.

"Your son is more intelligent than you ever will be."

Don laughed, loudly, his arms folded.

"Never in a million years did I foresee of this happening."

Smith snorted.

"If I had the inkling of this happening in the beginning-"

"You would have been far more aggressive in distancing yourself with us, Smith."

Smith looked aside thinking it over, contemplating, then looked up toward the older man.

"Would anything be different if that had happened?" Smith asked.

Don's gaze shifted to the side, thoughtfully then shrugged.

"Granted, Judy wouldn't have been hurt." Don replied as he rubbed his chin looking back quite thoughtfully. "You wouldn't have taken . . How did you do it, again?"

"Do what?"

"Convince John and Maureen to go on their anniversary?"

"I most certainly did not!" Smith said, insulted, his eyes flashing open. "Even if I did, I wouldn't have done that."

Don glared at the older man quite, incredulously.

"You came up with the suite key while she and Judy were gardening, offering it, then started to leave after Maureen rejected it at first." Don kept on going over the sputtering of the older man as he tapped on each finger of his hand on the elements of what lead to the incident. "They wouldn't have gone to the alien version of New York. They wouldn't have been attacked. They wouldn't have been trapped in a burning building then be rescued by a stranger they never got a chance to thank."

Smith got up with a start from the chair then paced along the room.

"That is insulting the way that you are saying I manipulated them to do something they weren't interested in!"

"You _did_ do that." Don reminded.

"Not intentionally!" Smith came to a pause behind the chair as he grasped the back rest of the chair.

"You would have never approached Maureen about it if Judy weren't there," Don came to the other side of the chess table then leaned forward with a smirk. "You used my wife to pressure Maureen to have time with John."

"If I intended to do that, which I didn't, then thankfully it didn't happen at all in that hypothetical." Smith replied.

Don lifted his chin up as it became even more clear.

"Ah, you regret how things turned out."

"How so muddy your mind is, my dear major." Smith replied, frowning, in reply as he held his thumb and index finger close together as he leaned forward. "Course, not." Smith gripped the back rest of the chair and leaned back. "I like how things turned out in the end."

Don smiled with a chuckle at the older man.

"Major, why are you smiling?" Smith asked as the major proceeded to laugh leaning against the door frame to his cabin.

"I just remembered something." Don snickered.

"What was it?" Smith lifted his brows in unison.

"It's your shift with Robot at the conn." Don said. "Will will join you in a couple of hours."

Don started to open the door to the shared cabin.

"Major," Smith started. 

"Yeah?" Don paused. 

"If you hadn't made your mistake, I wouldn't have gotten to grow old. I get to grow old in a place that is far better than where I came from. In the beginning, I didn't have a home."

"And Earth isn't?" Don asked. 

"That stopped being a home when the smog came in." Smith said, his voice low. 

"And now, you do have a home." Don said. 

Smith smiled, happily, as he nodded quite sincerely. 

"Indeed." Smith said.

"Good night, Smith." Don said. 

"Good night, Don." Smith replied. 

Don opened the door to the shared cabin, entered, then closed the door behind him as Robot laughed behind Smith. Smith turned in the direction of the machine. 

"Stop being a booby and get a good night's rest," Smith ordered. 

Robot blew a raspberry at Smith. 

"I do not need rest!" Robot protested. 

"Why your neural net does! Buffers, disk clean up, defragmenting--" Smith shook his hand. "Never the matter, just rest your tapes like the sapient machine that you are." 

Joshua peered out his cabin watching as Robot tailed after him.

"I don't have tapes!"

"You have videos tapes---"

"ELECTRONIC!" Robot roared, bobbing his helm up. 

"Are the same thing!" Smith replied.

"Are not!" Robot replied. 

Their bickering became dulled over by the sound of the door closing behind them so Joshua retreated into bed as he started to snicker, to giggle, then to laugh as he recalled a story of the duo's infamous arguments before everything had changed but not quite much. He laughed until he fell asleep in the cabin then rolled over crashing to the floor with a loud thud and remained asleep with his arms sprawled out. 


	43. For the Robinsons

"Professor, might I suggest that I take the Space Pod down for this endeavor?"

The men turned their attention off from the front window, startled, in unison at the proposal by Smith.

"Smith, you, suggesting yourself on a mission to determine if the planet below is safe for landing?" Don asked.

"Mmmh, yes." John lifted a brow. "I like to see something else other than these boring walls." Smith gestured toward the walls around them. "I like to take a space suit along in the event that your mechanical dunce's report turns out to be false."

"Are you sure that you want to make first contact on this planet below?" John asked.

"I have never been more sure of myself, Professor." Smith said. "Am I afraid? Very much so."

"But the desire of being on land outweighs that terror." Don said.

"Precisely, my dear major." Smith replied.

"How about we have a screw driver pull?" John suggested. "Just so it is more fair."

"If you so insist." Smith said.

"Robot, generate us the tools." John ordered. "Four screwdrivers."

"Tools have been generated." Robot reported as he held the two material between his claws.

"The one who picks the shortest screwdriver will go down to the planet and do a environmental survey." John said as Will entered the bridge. "That is how it always goes. _Almost_ always."

"Who went last time?" Smith asked.

"Why, I did." Will said as he joined his father's side.

"Remember how you weren't always part of this arrangement, Will?" Don asked with a chuckle.

"That was the worst hundred years of my life not being part of the team." Will admitted."I mean, I didn't care all that much about it until . . . it went on for far too long."

"Indeed." John said. "Okay. Let's do it."

Smith hesitated then carefully extracted the screwdriver then turned it upside down, holding it by the handle, as the rest of the men did. John observed the screwdrivers then paused observing that Will was the shortest. Smith was the first member of the men to grimace as John looked up toward the youngest of the men while Don lifted his brows at first.

"Huh." Don said. "Looks like it is Will's turn."

Smith stared at the younger man quite perplexed quite disturbed by what felt not to be a coincidence.

"I am on a roll here." Will chuckled. "Fifth time! And I already dislike doing this in one row."

"In one row-" Smith cut himself off. "Ninny, you've rigged it! I don't know how you have done it but you have!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Robot, Smith, you can carry this argument another time." John cut them off as Will went to the space pod doorway. "Robot."

"Affirmative." Robot moved away from the older man as he whirred following after the younger man.

"I am starting to feel the same way, Smith." Don said as Smith turned his attention on to him and his eyes started to flash open. "It doesn't feel quite random as it used to be."

Smith's shock was replaced by fury as he turned his attention off the major toward the quickly wheeling machine then started to tail after him.

"Why you bubble headed booby!" Smith barked as Robot went into the space pod with Will. "You rigged it!"

"Robot?" John asked, startled as the door closed behind him.

"I am going to give that ninny a piece of my mind when we get down to the planet." Smith said.

"And so am I." John said. "Starting to wonder what has him so spooked to do that."

"Robot doesn't get often spooked." Don agreed with a nod.

The men shifted their attention on the planet below waiting for the space pod to descend down to the surface of the planet with Smith between them clenching on to his hands as certain tension lingered in the air. Countless minutes passed after the space pod departed from the view of the Jupiter 2.

"Space Pod, over." Will's voice cracked over the radio.

John picked up the radio.

"Jupiter 2 here, report."

"It's great down here, sir. Over." Will reported. "Robot reports the oxygen levels are safe and the landing area that I am in isn't in territorial area. Over."

"Smith-"

"No need to ask him, he is already down in the lower decks." Don laughed.

John looked over spotting there wasn't a sight of the older man between them.

"I forgot how he used to slip away without making a fuss." John said, as he too, laughed. "We're coming down, Will. Over." John shifted toward the younger man. "Like some help landing her?"

"I can land the Jupiter as if I were her." Don said. "Go down and join the rest of the others."

John grinned then hooked the radio in then went out of the bridge as Don sat down into the pilot seat. The professor sat down alongside Maureen, strapping himself in, joining the rest of the family. Smith was strapped in the chair that Will had at one point rested in only a long time ago. Smith snuggled into the chair as his eyes fell heavy, a sting erupted from his back, then his figure fell down in the chair over the excitement of the Robinsons.

His figure was relaxed as he snored away over the amusement of the Robinsons. Barbie the Lizard wrapped around Eddie's neck as the ship flew closer to the planet in question, Murvelush, that was lush with green and blue colors similar to Earth. The Jupiter 2 soared closer toward the planet entering the gravitational field that caused the ship to shudder from deck to deck. Smith's eyes flickered open at the sudden feeling that he had been caught into something. His eyes fell close with slight curiosity until the ship were going on a turbulent speed.

Judy was screaming and so were the children. Smith's eyes flipped open in alarm as he gripped on the arm chair of the crash couch as the entire ship was screeching in protest against the activity raging outside. Smith looked on spotting the walls of the ship were glowing a faint red as was the interior of the ship. He looked on toward the direction of the professor and matriarch observing they were squeezing the other's hands appearing to be quite terrified. If Robot were there, in the center of the residential deck, he would be appropriately announcing the imminent crash landing of the Jupiter 2. Judy stormed out of the residential deck fleeing for the bridge of the Jupiter 2.

Smith didn't have anything to say over the screaming of the children. He reached a hand out toward Joshua on to the side of his arm stopping him from screeching observing the boy was on the verge of tears - as though, he too, knew the crash was going to be terrible. - and his voice was hoarse. Joshua looked toward the older man watching him nod taking his hand, then Smith reached his other hand out with a beckoning call, "Eddie!", drawing the younger granddaughter's attention, then took her hand.

Within mere moments that happened; the following occurred; the Jupiter 2 crashed into several rock towers that were overcrowded by vines that tackled down into the hull and the ship crashed against a cliff slicing it in half then continued falling with the upper half sheared off with the screaming of children raging in the distance. The Jupiter 2 fell into the gorge with no more momentum falling into the darkness with the red hue that had finally faded.

Smith blacked out with the roar of the Jupiter 2 crashing into the environment below.

* * *

Smith felt only numbness, lethargy, darkness, and the familiar coldness that awaited him. He felt in and out of consciousness aware distinctively of hearing a familiar pair of voices calling for him then returned "Doctor Smith!" met by silence, the cold, the mind numbing terror of what was going on among the content and peace. He drifted in and out, feeling something heavy but comforting upon his chest, his back up against something different surfaces; hard, bumpy, uncertain.

His view of the world returned with a loud groan, rested, his eyes opened spotting a familiar figure with red hair loomed over him alongside a machine and aged man with dark hair with baggy eyes. The two men loomed over him as Smith's eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room that changed from black to a light brown with wires, cables, and machinery poking out of the wall.

It was a lab of some sort, Smith realized as he groaned in certain agony.

The figures were smiling, Smith recognized them as Will and the major, over looking him.

And he felt weak.

"Major?" Smith groaned. "William? . . ."

"Sssh, rest." Don's voice was soothing but he sounded older. "You just had a big operation."

"It's going to be okay." Will assured.

"Where am I?" Smith asked.

Will walked away.

"Smith, when you wake up, you have a lot to explain about your infection coming back before we fix everything."

"Fix everything? Major, what on Earth-"

And lethargy claimed him as the older man left him.

* * *

Smith awoke once more with a hungry stomach in a familiar room. He propped himself up with the agony gone and stretched his arms out. He froze, spotting his pitch black thinned hands with claws for finger tips. They knew what had returned. There was no doubt that the children were aware of this matter.

Smith sobbed into his hands for a few long moments then got up to his feet feeling unsteady. He smacked his side against the wall with the sides of his leg aching. He slid the door to his room open then stared out spotting the two men at the table. Smith observed the space was smaller between each part of the ship.

Smith took a step forward and started to fall but was caught by Robot. His arm slid on the side of the machine's chassis as the machine wrapped a arm around his waist. Smith was moved to the table then he slid down into the chair and Robot came to a pause across from them as the age old man looked down upon the bagel with sausage and well cooked meat along it.

"Doctor Smith, tell us did you have any plans before the crash?" Will asked.

"Yes." Smith replied. "I did."

"And before getting to the planet?" Don asked.

"I had a plan a long time ago." Smith admitted. "I had a ride that was set to pick me up on Tremfya then take me to Kavalar."

Smith looked around, quite disturbed, but confused by the lack of presence of familiar members of the Robinsons at the table. Smith stretched a arm out curling it on the edge of the neighboring chair.

"Men, where are the children? Where are the women? Where is the professor?" Smith asked. "If it's about my mutation-"

"Eat." Don said.

"No, not until you tell me where they are." Smith said.

"They didn't make it." Will said.

"I survived the crash by some kind of miracle." Don said. "I shouldn't have survived."

"They died instantly." Will said. "They were all over the place when we found the Jupiter 2."

"That was a few years ago." Don added.

"A few?" Smith asked, incredulously. "Major, you look sixty."

"It took us a while to rebuild the Jupiter 2 to the way that she had been before." Don said.

"Course." Smith nodded.

"We had you in suspended animation in the mean time." Will said.

"Old fashioned or freezing tube?" Smith asked.

"Is there a difference?" Don asked.

"There are _various_ methods of putting someone into suspended animation such as putting people into snow that is at a very specific temperature, placing them into cold water, putting iced saline into their veins after taking their blood out, being put into 70 to 80 degrees below zero, stimulating neurons in the hypothalamus that activates hibernation behavior-"

"There's a difference." Don said.

"There is a fine difference." Smith nodded.

"Smith, remember our earlier discussion?" Don asked.

"Vividly." Smith nodded, gravely."

"We're going to prevent you being framed." Don said. "We're orbiting Tremfya, the night before everything changed, we'll be sending a unit down to trap you for a night and take care of the framers ship from there."

"If are successful then we will cease to exist." Will said. "If I am right."

"And they will be alive for another night." Smith said.

"We all will." Don said.

"Can you change the time limit in which it traps me?" Smith asked.

"We can do that." Will said. "Why?"

"I intended to leave the Jupiter 2 a week from now and deal with the Queen Madulla business."

"She destroyed Earth and the Alpha Centauri system."Will said.

"Then you're fortunate, I have a plan that will take her off the table including her army." Smith grimaced. "Hopefully."

"Trapped in a room that is five feet wide, six feet tall, that is a prison cell." Don said.

"I have spent four years in prison. He has not. I spent eight months on Destructon. He will not." Smith said. "Did Barbie survive?"

"Never found her." Will said, quietly then got up from the chair. "I will make the adjustments in the space pod."

"Major?" Smith asked. "Why didn't you and William make a system for the unit?"

"Because I am the one releasing it." Don said. "There is. . . There is. . . no hope. If this doesn't work-"

"You don't want to live in that world." Smith replied.

"Is that wrong?" Don asked.

"No, it isn't. Your entire species have been destroyed, Major. That is a massive final blow eliminating all who would side with you." Don looked aside, gazing back, haunted by memories that were crossing by. Smith took note of his demeanor. Smith could only imagine the heartbreak, the utter defeat, damage to his mind and soul, even to his mind, of witnessing such horrific. "You were part of that incident, were you?"

"Yes."

"That is a big blow."

"Very."

"The resistance has already built up and planning their over throw against Madulla." Smith replied. "This will work. . . What do you intend to do for the criminals?"

"We have five rockets reserved for their ship." Don said. "One, the main target is their ship. The rest strike the area around it."

Smith became silent.

"Major, did you bury them?" Smith lifted his attention up.

Don gripped the ceramic cup, tightly, as anger flared in his eyes.

"No, that was all Will." Don replied. "We crashed because of a tractor beam took control over the ship, captured me, then Will and Robot came to my rescue. We found what was left of John clinging to life before Will informed him of Maureen's passing." Smith paled at the relay of information. "His last order was to save our family."

Smith was quiet.

"Let's eat, major." Smith said. "We have a exciting mission to over see. . ." Smith turned his attention upon Robot. "What's wrong with Gunter?"

"He sold his voice synthesizer to get us fuel." Don said.

"Don." Smith said. "How about I do it? I am nearly . . . what I am. You can overload the ship should the mission be a failure and go away without leaving a sign of your rather cruel demise."

"That doesn't sound bad." Don said.

Smith smiled then they began to eat their meal.

* * *

The hours waned by quickly with much reflection on the sacrifice and everything that had been done to make sure they lived. Smith walked with a walking stick into the space pod, slipped himself in, then closed the door with a loud thud. Smith slipped out a notebook that had the entire story from start to bottom of what had happened if he had done what he had done. He tucked the notebook into the capture unit then slipped out of his uniform discarding it to the side.

His figure relaxed then he stretched his arms and legs until his spine sang with glee. Smith pressed the red button then the hangar bay doors opened and the space pod descended. He observed the long lines that differed with metal that contrasted over the other that was dark and lost the brightness. It was crammed, tighter, and-it was more roomier the last time that he had been in here. Smith observed it had four thick red and gray poles with glass fixtures folded beneath it.

The goodbyes had been made only a short time ago before entering, staring at the three men, reluctantly entering the hangar bay, and closed the door behind him with no one beside him. Once the space pod were far away from the Jupiter 2, he opened the door to the space pod then used his line of clothes to send the capture unit flying out of the craft that pointed toward the planet. The unit flew toward the coordinates that Don had programmed into them.

Smith watched it vanish into the atmosphere of the planet. He waited for several minutes, waiting for them to make the next move, it had to have been two hours worth of waiting, as his head was craned forward out of the doorway of the ship. Then there were rockets that blazed on by him. The rockets flew further and further until it had all but sunk down below the surface of the clouds. He watched the sky be highlighted by red lights one at a time, _baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom,_ in a circle.

"You did it, William!"

Smith looked up spotting the small Jupiter 2.

"You did it! You did it, Major!"

It vanished before his eyes.

"We did it!"

It had worked.

"WE DID IT!"

And then, he too, did not exist.


End file.
